


Sins of the Father (Daddy Issues)

by DustinMcDreamy



Category: DC Extended Universe, Superboy (Comics), Superman - All Media Types, Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Bad Parenting, Closeted Character, Coming Out, Daddy Issues, Dubious Morality, Family Issues, Father-Son Relationship, Identity Issues, M/M, No Sex, Not Canon Compliant, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Struggle to be Good, Superboy is 18 in Physiology, Surprise Parenthood, Tim Drake is 17, Tim Drake is Red Robin, Trust Issues, Two Fathers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 23,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22808119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DustinMcDreamy/pseuds/DustinMcDreamy
Summary: The Teen Titans come across a clone of Superman on a mission. The clone knows only that he is the son of Superman and wants nothing more than his love. When Superman rejects him, the clone realizes something else within his DNA: a biological hatred of Superman and desire to see him destroyed.
Relationships: Clark Kent & Kon-El | Conner Kent, Kon-El | Conner Kent & Lex Luthor, Tim Drake & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent
Comments: 12
Kudos: 197





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Took some liberties with canon, powers, timelines, etc. but tried to not to stay too far.

The day had begun like any other; the Teen Titans woke up at seven in the morning, had quick nutritionally-enhanced breakfast of yogurt and granola to fuel themselves for the day, and they made their way to the training rooms of Titans Tower to undergo exercises and combat practice which was supervised by Dick and Kory.

Tim was practicing sparring against Bart; Bart was always a challenge due to his meta-human speed. It was hard to land a move against an enemy you couldn’t see. Batman had given him tips in private for countering speedsters. He would need to pose his body defensively and let Bart strike first; Bart would still hit, but if Time was posed right, it’ll knock Bart of balance, and he’ll need to brake and stop himself. Second, always strike for the legs during a stumble. He can’t run if he can’t even walk. Third, use the staff. Speedsters rarely used any weapons. Any additional items affected their speed and balance. Tim could use his staff to protect himself or strike at a distance. They’ll more than likely be able to dodge the first end, but if Tim could predict Bart’s movement, he may be able to surprise Bart with the second end.

“Begin,” Dick announced. 

Almost immediately, Bart zoomed at Tim. Tim had good reflexes, and knew Bart would be eager to strike, so he sunk his body low and posed his side, shoulder, and bottom of his staff towards where Bart would be hitting.

He felt Bart hit him, which would have knocked Tim over if he wasn’t already prepared. While Bart was getting his footing back, Tim had regained his balance with a simple turn of his foot while simultaneously bringing his staff behind Bart’s leg, and lifting it up.

Bart fell on his back, and Time had the other end of his staff pinned on Bart’s chest the moment he collapsed.

Well done,” Dick replied.

“It’s over already?” Bart asked, surprised he was taken down so easily.

“Already,” Dick confirmed. “How many times has your grandfather told you that it’s not smart to charge in head first?”

“This is just for fun, though,” Bart said as Tim helped him stand back up on his feet. “This isn’t the real thing.”

“What is the point of these practices if not to prepare you for the real thing?” Dick asked. “If you do not improve in here, you will be underprepared for when you end up on the field.”

Bart stood up and stretched his legs. “Alright, alright. I know.”

Cassandra and Garfield made their way to the ring next. “Be careful, Cassie. I have a new strategy.”

Cassandra chuckled before getting into stance. “If it’s something you learned in a videogame, I’m not worried.”

“Begin,” Dick announced. Cassie reached for her golden lasso. Catching Gar was usually easy. She was able to quickly wrangle him no matter what animal he morphed into the charge at her. But as she had it in her hands, she realized he was gone. He wasn’t a large, dominating animal as usual. She looked at the ground to see if he was a snake or a rat, but there was nothing there.

She heard the slight buzzing noise of a winged bug before she saw a large wave of green pushing her onto the ground. Gar was an elephant now, and the sudden impact with its thick skin made her feel like she had just been flown into a wall at high speed. Gar had a foot on her and Cassie punched repeatedly with her strength until he morphed into a pigeon and took altitude.

Cassie got back on her feet and whirled her lasso around, trying to aim. She launched it at Gar, but the lasso didn’t travel as fast as it did with medium-range and level opponents. Gar became a larger hawk and caught the ring of the lasso with his taloned claws. Cassie tried to pull Gar, but Gar shifted into a gorilla and fell from his high altitude. The sudden slack with the rope made Cassie unable to pull. Gar, however, was twirling his arm to wrap the lasso around his arm and make Cassie go to him instead.

She dug her feet into the ground and tried to pull back. When Gar was no longer in control, he leapt at Cassandra and came down on her with his free fist, sending her flying backwards.

“Point goes to Gar,” Dick said. Tim headed over to her and helped her up as well. Gar transformed back into his boy self and quickly came up to her.

“Are you okay? I hope I didn’t hurt you too bad. I don’t want to mistreat you because you’re a girl but I don’t wanna go easy on you just because you’re a girl, you know?” Garfield rambled.

“I’m okay, an Amazon can take a punch. Besides, I’ve usually kicked your butt in the past,” she teased, punching him in the arm.

“Gar, you’ve adapted well from your past errors,” Kory stated with pride. “Cassandra, now you know your lasso is not perfect. I believe you have been depending on it a lot recently since Diana gave it to you.”

“I just needed to get more equipped with it,” Cassandra stated. “I promise to utilize my other skill sets on the field.”

“Good,” she said. “That’s enough group training for the day, but don’t forget to log your individual hours as usual.”

Tim was usually the overachiever when it came to individual training, but it helped he was a bit of a loner. Gar and Bart were always hanging out together. Cassie joined them often, but often kept her distance due to their adolescent male rambunctiousness. Tim would be sociable sometimes when approached, but he also tended to be unapproachable.

He went back to his room and got on his laptop. He had remote access to the batcave computers and wanted to see what Batman was working on. He liked to send Batman notes. He was sure Batman never needed them, but he liked impressing Batman and hoped by proving to Batman that he had a good eye, that it would install confidence in Batman to give Tim more responsibility when the time came. He knew Batman would be overprotective due to the Jason incident, but everyone was at risk every time they suited up. Batman couldn’t keep the training wheels on forever.

There was a knock on the door and Tim looked to see Dick who was standing in his entryway. “You’re ahead on your training. Bart and Gar are playing videogames with Cas. Why not join them?”

“I’m fine,” Tim replied. “I feel more productive here.”

“There’s this thing called a work-life balance, you know. You’re supposed to do things that are enjoyable for fun on your down-time.”

“I will keep that in mind, but I am in the mood to be productive. I’ll take a rest and recharge when I actually need one as opposed to resting when I don’t,” Tim argued.

“It’s team building. It’ll make you a more effective cohort and eventual leader. People want someone they feel they can trust. Trust begins with approachability.”

“Another time, Dick,” Tim replied.

“Ok,” Dick conceded. “Just keep what I said in mind. They want to be your friend.”

He left and shut the door behind him, leaving Drake to go back to reviewing the files and evidence Bruce had on his most recent case. 

He was typing up his notes to Bruce when the alarm rang, and Tim quickly dashed from his computer to suit up. They made their way to Kori’s ship where they’d be debriefed on the way.

“There are reports of an explosion and gunshots at Cadmus Labs,” Kori explained. “We know this is one of Lex Luthor’s subsidiaries, so we must be cautious since he’s not particularly fond of aliens and meta-humans. But we have probable cause to enter now.”

“Here is the layout of the building, but we believe this is incomplete. Luthor has his secrets. Robin and Wonder will focus on the north wings; KF, Beast, you two run east; Kori will take South and I’ll take West,” Nightwing ordered.

“We are landing,” Kori announced as they descended. “Activating stealth mode and set to hover over the building. Activating gravity well.”

They descended onto the rooftop safely with the ship’s gravity well and made their way into the building through the service entrance before splitting up.

“Neural comms activated,” Kori telepathically thought. Bruce Wayne and Kori adapted Tamaranian technology to allow to communicate discreetly without giving away the stealth.

All team members checked in and acknowledged their connections and proceeded to patrol. The main lights were off, only scare emergency lights were on. Tim and Cassandra eventually came across signs of distress. There were dropped papers, dents in walls, missing ceiling tiles, shattered glass.

“Signs of violent activity in the northern quadrant,” Tim relayed.

“There’s some blood over here,” Cassie added.

“Still be on guard,” Dick advised. “Subjects may have relocated.”

They came across a few bodies. Tim went over and tested for pulses. “Scientists unconscious, but not dead. Target is violent, but potentially restraining self. Not guaranteed.”

They heard a scream from down the hall and they sped towards the sound. “Active noise of distress in North quadrant. We are in pursuit.”

They navigated through the hallways, seeing more and more damage, broken items, unconscious scientists and etc.

They saw a bunch of SWAT-style heavily armored guards with kryptonite barons and shields.

“Heavy private guards in SWAT gear wielding Kryptonite,” Cassie advised over the comms.

“What do they need Kryptonite for?” Kori asked.

“Someone help!” a voice yelled.

Cassie threw her lasso to restrain the closest guard and Tim threw himself into the crowd with his own staff to go fight them head-on. Cassie pulled on her glowing rope, launching the guard over to the side.

“There is a possible victim in distress requesting assistance,” Cassie relayed.

“Neutralizing eight more targets,” Tim announced as he dealt devastating blows to guards whilst dodging attacks from others behind him. Cassie captured another and swung her captive to take out additional guards.

Once they were all out of commission, they slowly approached to see who was shouting for help. There was a large machine in the center that looked like a pod. It had been shattered, and fluid was all over the floor.

“You can come on out,” Tim announced. His voice was calm and reassuring. “We can help you if you’re hurt.”

A shirtless man slowly stood up with his arms above his head. Tim immediately recognized the figure.

“Superman?” Cass and Tim asked in unison.

The man shook his head ‘no’ as they slowly approached. This man was younger, but he definitely looked like a boyish superman. A boyish superman that was naked and very wet. He eyed the broken tube. The glass projectiles came outward, meaning it had been broken from inside. The guards all had Kryptonite weapons.

“I think we have a clone of Superman on our hands,” Tim thought.

“A what of whom?” Kori asked/

“Do you have a name?” Tim asked.

He shook his head. “I think I heard them refer to me as ‘Project Thirteen’,” he said softly.

“Were you in that pod?” Tim asked, gesturing to it. The man nodded. “For how long?”

“Forever,” he said. “I’ve always been in the pod. I used to be smaller and there was more space, but I would wake up and my arms and legs would be longer. I was never awake very long, though.”

Dick, Kory, Bart, and Gar came rushing in. The man immediately got scared and shot laser beams from his eyes towards them.

“STAND DOWN TEAM!” Tim ordered over his comms. “He’s scared of us. He’s just been through an ordeal.”

“They’re with us, they’re good. We’re here to help you,” Cassie said reassuringly. 

The man was panting and terrified of the strangers in front of him. “I saw a uniform room a few corridors back,” Kori said. “Let me go grab some clothes for you.”

She walked out of the room, and they all stood, not knowing how to approach him. “We have a place you can stay. There’s a bed, there’s food, no more pods or tubes. No more scary men with Kryptonite weapons trying to hurt you.”

“I don’t know, I don’t know anything outside of this tube,” the man said.

“I understand,” Tim replied. “Do you know who Superman is?”

The boy nodded. “I-I think so. I feel like I have some of his memories. They kind of feel like mine, but I know they’re not. I think I know some of what he knows.”

“Well, Superman has great instincts. He’s a good judge of character. He’s really good at seeing the good in people. That’s why he dedicates himself to looking out and defending humanity, because he sees the good. I’m hoping you can see that we’re good, better than the people here who tried to hurt you.” Tim explained.

“I-I think I do,” the man said. “I trust you.”

Kori came back with some uniforms and she paused herself at a distance; she extended her arms, gesturing the clothes, waiting for permission to approach. The man nodded and she slowly got closer, averting her eyes and letting the man dress to be decent. 

“We should go before more trouble comes,” Dick said. “I need to call Clark.”


	2. Chapter 2

Everyone arrived back at Titans Tower. The atmosphere on the ship back was tense, but not for Tim. He was the only one who stayed attentive to the clone.

They landed and moved off the board. “Are you hungry? Tired? We’ll need to get you set up with a room, but we have plenty of space,” Kori asked.

“I think I am hungry. That’s the stomach discomfort, right? I know of it, I just haven't experienced it yet.” The man also let out a yawn. “I do not know why my breathing is malfunctioning like that. I feel weaker.”

“You’re tired. Most people need sleep,” Kori explained.

“Does Superman sleep?” Tim asked. “I didn’t think he fatigued.”

“I think he meditates himself to slumber to pass time and recharge. I think he only really _needs_ to do it rarely,” Dick replied.

_So he may not be a full Kryptonian,_ Tim thought to himself. Their communications were offline. “We need to figure out a name to call you.”

“A name? I thought parents usually chose those. Clark should choose for me, since he’s my dad,” the boy responded.

Tim wasn’t sure how super receptive Superman was going to be regarding having a new child that was already around eighteen. Superman was a good man, though. Tim hoped he’d do what was right.

“I don’t know when Superman will be here, we-” Dick began to state. Tim looked at him knowingly. This was not going to be easy news to break. “We still need to reach out to him.”

“I want my father to name me,” the boy said. Tim shifted uncomfortably, he really hoped this would go over well.

“Let me show you to your room. We’ll get you to rest and we can discuss more in the morning, okay?” Tim offered. The man nodded and Tim lead the way to their dormitory wing. The room next to his happened to be unoccupied, so that would have to do. It may be good for Tim to be readily available.

The room wasn’t really decorated, although there was one fake plant and one painting up, but aside from that, it was unlived in and sort of desolate. The queen sized bed had simple blue sheets and comforters, though. That was already a positive, blue was Superman’s main color.

“I like this color,” the clone stated. Tim smiled as he was just thinking that he’d like it. 

“I’m glad to hear that,” Tim said. “Let me grab you some pajamas. I think you’re the same size as Cyborg was when he was younger. He didn’t have much need for clothes. Let me see what I can find.”

Tim made his way to Cyborg’s old room. He was now a member of the Justice League, but he had started younger along with Dick and Kory. He wanted to avoid his father, so he brought literally all of his belongings to Titans Tower. He no longer needed the clothes, but it was all so recent. Tim didn’t know Cyborg at the time, but he thought maybe it kept him tethered to humanity. He heard Cyborg struggled with that for a while after the accident. The Cyborg that Tim had known now was at peace.

He entered the room that was full of sports memorabilia. Cyborg didn’t display any of his won achievements or awards, it likely hurt too much, but he couldn’t stop being a fan. He still enthuses about all of California’s sports teams and watches as much as he can.

Tim put a bunch of clothes of Cyborg’s into an empty laundry basket and carried it back to the clone’s room. When Tim opened the door, he witnessed the man completely naked, just as they had found him.

“Oh my god,” Tim exclaimed as he quickly turned to ceiling. “Why did you take your clothing off?”

“You stated this Cyborg did not require clothing, so if I am of similar build I assumed I did not either?”

“No, you definitely do. You have flesh and ...external organs that need to be covered and not shown to people,” Tim stated.

“Oh, ok,” the man said. He quickly put his underwear back on. “But I still needed different clothing right? Specifically for nighttime slumber?”

“Y-yeah,” Tim stuttered. He peeked again and the clone was decent-ish. His bulge was _very_ visible in the briefs, and he was still shirtless and pantless. The clone was like a fitness model with pecs, abs, and very toned legs. It made sense, Superman was very muscular as similarly built as well. But Tim had never seen Superman shirtless. He’d only seen forearms when he was Clark Kent off-duty.

Tim felt himself twitch in his pants and he was annoyed at his own physical interest in the clone, and he set the basket down and knelt down too to rummage through the basket. He made the mistake of glancing up. The clone was only a few paces away as Tim was in the doorway still, but he was now at eye-level with the clone’s groin. He quickly put his gaze back to the clothing. He grabbed a soft black T-shirt and some flannel bottoms and extended his arm to the boy without looking.

“Here, these should be comfortable enough to sleep in,” Tim stated.

“What if I am more comfortable with just this amount of fabric?” the clone asked.

Tim sighed. Of course the god sculpted man was comfortable letting it all hang out. “That’s normal, plenty of people are more comfortable in just their underwear, but you need to be fully dressed if you want to socialize with us in the morning.” Tim stood back up and tried his best not to stare.

“I understand,” the man said. “Underwear and less for private use only. Shirt and pants required for public.”

“Correct,” Tim agreed.

“I am remembering these norms as you advise them,” the man said. “I think I have inherited wisdom or some memories from my father.”

Lex Luthor probably would have wanted to ensure he wasn’t raising a newborn. If he was created as a weapon, he’d need mass intellect. Hopefully it was a nature vs nurture thing, and if they could raise the clone right, he’d be of no use to Luthor.

“I should let you get some sleep. I’m right next door if you need anything,” Tim stated. “My name is Tim, by the way.”

“Tim,” the clone repeated. “Good night, Tim.”

“Goodnight,” he replied, shutting the door behind him on his way out. Tim made his way into his own room and also closed the door. He got undressed as well, also preferring just his own briefs. He tossed and turned a lot in his sleep so shirts were often constricting if they got bunched. At the first sign of anything simply resembling strangulation, Tim would bolt awake and attack due to hsi training.

He got underneath the covers and felt his body react to thoughts of the man. Tim ignored his own urges and tried to think of less arousing subjects, such as the case he was working on before they went on this mission to find the clone. _Crap._ There was the clone again.

He thought about combat techniques. He thought about sparring with Cassandra, Beast Boy, Kid Flash. He wondered if the clone could fight and if he’d join the,. _There he was again!_

Tim sighed in frustration as he tried to drift asleep on his own. He eventually felt his body soften and relax and he drifted off into a slumber.


	3. Chapter 3

Tim woke up the next morning bright and early as usual. He grabbed a set of clean clothes and made his way to one of the bathrooms on the floor. There were two, one for each wing, so they had to share. The benefit of being the first one to wake up was that he could beat everyone else to the shower.

He entered the bathroom, locked the door, and got undressed per normal before turning the water on and stepping in. He liked the water ice cold. It woke up him, kept him alert, and sharpened his mind. They boosted his circulation and after intense workouts or fights, it helped him recover better.

He was allowing himself to calm and meditate on his thoughts while under the ice spray when the sound of the lock breaking and the brash collision of the swinging door with the wall startled him. He turned to see the clone had breached the bathroom and was now feet away. It was a modern open-stone design, so no curtain. Project Thirteen had grabbed Tim and yanked him out. Tim tried to defend himself and fight back before he realized Thirteen was not harming him further, but instead, had him in a protective embrace.

“I’ve got you, are you okay now?” the clone asked.

“What!?” Tim had also processed that the clone was still shirtless and pantless from his insistence that he sleep in just his underwear. Tim _definitely_ felt the hardened bulge of the clone pressed _right_ up against his ass in their huddled position. It was definitely making his own body react in turn.

“Let go of me! Get off!” Tim exclaimed. Thirteen did as instructed and looked at him curiously as Tim quickly covered himself until he reached up behind him to the towel rack and grabbed the first towel he could, not caring who it belonged to. “What are you doing!?”

“Your heart rate spiked inexplicably and your body temperature was rapidly decreasing. I assumed you were in distress,” the man said.

“I was taking a shower! It’s a…...hygiene regimen,” Tim explained, the frustration clear in his voice. He had never had to explain a shower before.

“Hygiene, of course,” Thirteen said. “I believe I can recall that information. You need to get clean.”

“Yes,” Tim sighed in frustration.

“You were not wearing clothing. This is perhaps a private moment?”

“ _Yes,_ ” he replied sternly. “It is.”

“I am sorry,” he replied. “I only wanted to ensure you were safe. You’ve been very kind to me.” Tim saw sincere empathy and remorse in his voice. It was moving. Did he have some kind of imprinting bond with the clone? Or has he just not gotten to know anyone else? “I will leave you alone to your private hygiene regimen.” 

Thirteen stood up and walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Tim huffed and carefully stood up. He was slightly sore from the impact of the clone’s grip and being escorted to the ground, surrounded by a mostly naked Thirteen. 

He finished his shower, slightly on edge due to the now unlocked door, but he got himself clean and got dried and dressed for the day. He made his way back to his room to check on the clone, who was sitting patiently.

“I’m sorry again, about the incident,” the clone said. “You were safe and I assume I made you feel unsafe.”

“I accept your apology,” Tim replied.

“It is my turn for the shower, correct?” he asked.

“Yup,” Tim confirmed.

“You already took one, so I assume you are not wanting to join me?” the man asked. 

Tim’s heart rate spiked up again from the shock, and the clone seemed to have pick up on that, as he appeared startled. “Why are you asking if I want to join you in the shower?”

“Memories from my father. He often asks someone if they want to join him in the shower. I have bits and pieces of his memories as well as his knowledge. It’s a woman, I sense they have a strong emotional connection.”

“We don’t have a strong emotional connection,” Tim replied flatly. “That’s an inappropriate question for an acquaintance.”

“Oh, we don’t?” the clone asked. He sounded dejected. “I believe I understand. I shall shower alone, in that case.”

The man left the room and made his way to the restroom, closing the door behind him. Tim closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself down. His patience was definitely being tested. He really hoped that at the rate his brain was maturing and recalling knowledge from Superman, he would behave more organically.

Tim made his way downstairs to the kitchen where Dicka nd Kory were. They were early risers as well due to their years of training, but they went easy on the teens due to Kory’s insistence that as growing teens, they needed more time to sleep. Tima nd Dick were _definitely_ not raised by Batman that way.

“Good Morning,” Kory said. “Did something happen upstairs?”

“Project Thirteen is learning customs and manners. Thank you for not intruding,” Tim said. “The bathroom door in my wing needs its lock fixed.”

Dick must have been fighting a laugh mid-drink of coffee because there was a bubbling sound and his body was chortling. “That will be fixed,” he tried to say with a straight face. 

Tim rolled his eyes. Sometimes Dick wasn’t as mature as he should be. “Please tell me you got a hold of Clark.”

Kory and Dick looked at each other. “We did,” Dick said. “But it’s not something we wanted to tell him over the phone.”

“So your plan is to blindside him on the spot with no time to emotionally prepare?” Tim asked. “That doesn’t sound like smart leadership.”

“It would be insensitive to inform him over the phone,” Kory said. “This requires tact.”

“I do not believe pouring gasoline on a fire is tact, Kory,” Tim replied. “He could react poorly in front of Thirteen.”

“He can react poorly over the phone and brew in his anger the entire trip here and arrive angry. He needs to see Thirteen for himself,” Dick replied. “Maybe seeing him will be a positive.”

“Clark has the right to know now,” Tim argued.

“Timothy,” Kory interjected softly and peacefully. “You make an excellent point, and Dick and I have already contemplated those possibilities and that side. We feel there are more pros and possible positive outcomes to informing Clark upon his arrival. We are truly sorry that you disagree, but this is an important part of team democracy.”

“This is not going to go well,” Tim advised as he walked away from his ‘leaders’, no longer hungry or caring to eat. As he made his way upstairs, he saw the clone standing outside the bathroom door, wrapped in a towel. Tim grunted with a sigh, why could this man never be dressed around him? As he approached he noticed the clone was dripping wet, not taking the time to dry, and he looked forlorn and upset.

“Hey,” Tim said softly. “What’s wrong?

“I heard you all,” he replied. “My father doesn’t know about me. You want to do the right thing, and they won’t let you. I want my father to know I’m here.”

Tim’s heart ached for the man. “Okay,” Tim replied. “I can call him for you.”

“There was more,” he added. “Everyone is convinced he will react badly. Why? Won’t he be happy to see me?”

Tim felt insanely guilty. He didn’t want to treat the man as less-than or other, but there was the danger of the unknown. He was being crafted by Lex Luthor for some unknown reason. Lex Luthor hates Superman, so his purpose and intent for the clone was unclear.

“Superman isn’t expecting a kid,” Tim replied. “Do you understand where you come from?”

The man nodded. “I was grown. I wasn’t a baby for long. I didn’t come from procreation or a woman.”

“Right,” Tim replied. “And the man behind your creating really doesn’t like Superman. He may be concerned.”

“But he’s Superman,” the clone said. “He always does the right thing, right? He’s a beacon for good. Accepting me, it would be the right thing, wouldn’t it?”

Tim knew the ache to want to be included in something, to have a proper home and family, especially after the death of his own mother and father a few years ago. He had figured out who Nightwing and Batman were, and was holding onto the information until he was ready; but then he needed a new home immediately and took his chances on Bruce Wayne. He was still young, just turned a teen. He was grieving the loss of his parents, Bruce was grieving the loss of Jason, and they forged their family out of necessity. Batman did the right thing for him, but this was different.

“I hope so,” Tim said sincerely. He didn’t want to make a promise he couldn’t keep, but he truly believed Superman would. “Let me call him. Go dry off.”

Tim made his way to his room and took out his phone. He didn’t have Superman’s number, but he had Bruce’s and he gave him a dial. Bruce rarely slept. He was either just about to retire for the night, or he was going to be up for two days straight. Still, Bruce had a special ringtone for him.

“Timothy,” Bruce answered. “”What do you need?”

“I need Clark’s phone number,” Tim replied.

“Why?”

“There’s a situation involving him at Titans Tower. I can tell you later, but Clark deserves to know first. Either way, Dick and Kory are insisting to blindside him upon his arrival. He needs to know now.”

“And why are we not trusting Dick and Kory’s decisions?” 

“Aside from their often short-sighted leadership, there’s a fourth party whose opinion counts the most. He voted to inform Clark now,” Tim explained. “So, please.”

There was silence on the other line. Tim knew Batman wanted to know who the fourth party was. 

“Fine. I’ll send it to you. Use it in emergencies only, like any other Leaguer that is not me,” Bruce said.

“Of course. Thank you, Bruce.”

The line disconnected without a reply and his phone pinged shortly after. Bruce had sent contact information for both Clark _and_ Lois. 

Tim saved the numbers before connecting to Clark. He was stressed and uncomfortable, but he had been highly trained to manage well in physically stressful situations.However, this emotional matter was different.

“Hello? This is Clark Kent,” the man on the other line replied.

“Clark, this is Timothy Drake,” Tim replied. “Bruce’s son.” 

Clark chuckled on the other line. “I know who you are, Tim. What’s going on?”

“Did Dick or Kory ask you to come to Titans Tower?” Tim asked.

“Yes, they wouldn’t say much. They advised it’d be better to discuss in person. Are you here to tell me now?”

“Yes,” Tim replied. “You deserve to know the pretense to prepare.”

“Prepare? What is this meeting about?” Clark asked.

“We had a mission to investigate an explosion at Cadmus Labs, a Luthor Corp subsidiary. We found a…...invention. We don’t know why Luthor created it or what his plans were. But we can tell it involves you.”

“What kind of device is this?” Clark asked.

“It’s not a device, Clark,” Tim replied. “We believe he’s your genetic clone. He’s a Kryptonian with some of your powers, we don’t know all of them or to what extent. He’s roughly eighteen years old based on physiology but we think he’s only a few weeks old. He has some of your knowledge and memories, more come to him every minute. To him, you are his father.”

The line cut dead after that statement, and Tim suspired. This is exactly what he was expecting, but now he could prepare on the way.

Tim made his way out of his room. Thirteen was walking back from the bathroom. He was dry now, wearing a black athletic compression shirt that was hugging his muscles and denim. Would the man stop looking like that?

“How did he take it?” Thirteen asked. The sentence seemed less formal than anything he’s uttered so far. 

“Not as good as we’d hoped. Perhaps it’s just shock. Maybe he just needs to see you. I think he’ll get used to you and see this as a positive,” Tim replied optimistically.

The clone looked like he tried to be happy and reassured by Tim’s words, but he was understandably still concerned. “I think I need a distraction. What do you do to pass the time?”

Tim smiled. The clone was learning how to _function_ and now he was learning how to _live_. “I train and work out. Exercise is a good way to release negative emotions and feel better. Shall we do that?”Thirteen nodded. “Ok, let me change into athletic gear. You’ll need athletic pants, shorts, or sweatpants, but that shirt works. Find something of a similar material. I need to get dressed as well. Meet me back here.”

Red Robin bro-slapped the clone’s shoulder, dismissing him. The whole gesture felt awkward and inorganic. He wasn’t sure why he was so flustered around Thirteen.

They got dressed respectively and they took the elevator down a few floors to their training areas that had their battle simulation room, arena, and their workout equipment. Tim wasn’t sure if Thirteen was able to fight yet. He assumed he’d process Clark’s training as time goes on, but he figured he’d start with something easy. 

Tim led the way to the combat arena and he pressed a few buttons. One of the mechanical dummies stood itself up from an offline-hunch and approached the center of the arena.

“It’s going to try to hit you, don’t let it. Try to hit it first in a way to subdue it. Nothing fatal allowed, corporate hero policy. The computer will keep track of all contact. You lose points for any time it gets you, and you earn it for hitting it,” Tim explained. “Come over here and hit this for me ,first.”

The clone made his way to a device near the arena entrance. It was half of a punching bag, inserted into a hollow indentation with a bullseye in the center.

“Punch it with your average amount of strength, don’t over-exert,” Tim said.

The clone nodded and gave it a punch.

“Calculating weight and resistance required. Trainee is in the top one percentile of strength. Applying maximum weight and resistance stabilizers for arena opponents,” the computer’s voice said.

Tim smirked. “Now our dummy won’t go flying a hundred feet away when you punch it. Get on in.”

Thirteen entered the training arena and Tim typed away at the keyboard.

“Commence training in 3…..2…..1…..,” the computer counted down.

The dummy took a swing at the clone, and he dodged effortlessly. He grabbed the dummy’s extended arm, and threw it over his shoulder, onto the ground. Thirteen yelled as he did it, the dummy weighing several hundred pounds to balance out the fight.

The clone then pivoted one of his feet to set it on the dummy’s chest. He twisted the dummy’s arm, as if to dislocate or break it.

“Disengage,” the computer voice said. “Target subdued. Allow for reset.”

“Very good,” Tim replied. He was impressed thoroughly, but he had the dummy on a low combat intelligence because he wasn’t sure what the clone would know other than brute strength. He increased the AI intelligence to level five.

The dummy moved back into its starting position as did Thirteen, who posed, ready to strike.

“Commence training in 3…..2…..1…..,” the computer repeated.

The dummy refused to move, sparking the clone’s curiosity. He took a cautious approach closer,and the dummy eased itself back defensively. Thirteen smirked and launched himself towards the dummy. The dummy dodged partially, but was still caught due to Thirteen’s speed. The dummy struck the clones back as it was tackled and they both collapsed on the floor and rolled.

The dummy slid out of Thirteen’s grasp on their collapse and got back into an upright stance. The clone was slowly getting up, and the dummy took the opportunity to kick Thirteen in the ribs.

He grunted upon impact, but quickly grabbed the dummy’s leg and he stood up, causing the dummy to become off-balance and fall down, its leg still locked in Thirteen’s grasp. The clone body slammed himself down, landing on the dummy, bending the leg so it would break on a human, and collapsed on its chest.

“Disengage,” the computer voice said. “Target subdued. Allow for reset.”

Tim typed away at the computer, turning off the training. The dummy limped away towards its restoration pod where the door sealed and mechanical arms worked away at repairing it.

“That was good, aside from you taking your time to get back up. You also kept your eyes off the target. You shouldn’t ever do that,” Tim lectured. 

“Keep my eyes focused on the target,” the clone stated. “Got it.” The look Thirteen was giving Tim was hard to read. He wasn’t sizing Tim up as an enemy, he could tell. The clone’s fixation made him feel transparent and vulnerable. 

There was a click of the intercom in the training room. “Timothy Drake,” Koriand’r’s voice angrily announced. “Get up here. Now.”

“Superman’s here,” the clone relied happily. “I can hear his heartbeat.”

“Hey, remember what I said,” Tim interjected. “Let’s not overwhelm him. This may be a lot for him to handle. Keep your distance. Don’t speak unless spoken to.”

“Okay,” he replied. “I trust you.”

Tim nodded and the two of them made their way to the elevator. As they approached the living room, they saw Dick and Kory with Clark, all of them looking very stern. Tim watched as Clark’s gaze fell upon Thirteen. He saw the man’s eyes dilate, his chest huffed with a gentle gasp, and his fist clenched. Clark was afraid, and Tim was worried for his new friend.

The air was thick and tense, nobody knowing who should start first.

“Timothy,” Clark said. “Thank you for telling me.” He looked disapprovingly towards Dick and Kory, who were unphased. Clark turned to look towards his clone. “Do you...uhm….do you have a name?”

Tim looked at the clone and nodded reassuringly. He turned to Clark. “Not yet. I was hoping to receive a name from you, if possible.”

Clark stood silently, calculating, assessing the man in front of him. “Right, well. Could you please excuse us? I’d like to talk to the Titans alone, please.”

“Sure,” Thirteen replied. “I’ll head back downstairs.”

He made his way back to the elevator and pressed the button to descend back to the training areas. As soon as he was out of sight, Clark grunted out of frustration and drew in air, as if he was holding his breath. “You two thought you could surprise me with something like this?”

“Our focus was to make the situation easier on the boy,” Kory said. “We didn’t want you brewing in hatred and manifesting a rage with pre-determined objections prior to meeting him and giving him a chance.” She turned to face Timothy. “That is what you neglected to consider, Timothy.”

“No, I had the right to be told,” Clark replied. “Lex Luthor made a _clone_ out of me. He can only be some type of a con or…….a weapon to be used against me. We can’t trust it.”

“He is a person, Kal!” Kory interjected. “And yes, possibly, if Luthor had more time, maybe he could have been raised to be bad, but we believe we got to him soon. He had never been released, never been trained, or imprinted.”

“We have no way to be sure of that. He was grown, and we have no idea what with,” Clark argued.

“Hence why we raise him, you included,” Dick suggested.

“What!?” Clark shouted. “Are you ins-”

“You have the opportunity to bond with him and steer him in the proper direction,” Dick continued.

“You are putting me and yourselves at risk,” Clark argued.

“You are Superman, and we are highly trained,” Dick continued.

“You’re no match for a Kryptonian,” Clark replied sternly.

“Hence why you should stick around,” Tim suggested.

“You cannot possibly ask me to do that,” Clark said. “My DNA was stolen from me by my arch nemesis who wants me dead,and it resulted in that th….. _boy_. And you expect me to be ok with it?”

“A hero puts themselves in danger for the good of the people. We sacrifice our normal lives and we go through hell to protect the world. So the answer is _yes_ , Clark. I _do_ expect that of the Superman,” Tim lectured. Clark looked remorseful, uncomfortable. He knew Tim’s words had some truth to them.

“We need to raise him right, or Luthor does,” Kory rationed softly. “We need the expertise of a Kryptonian.”

Clark sighed and buried his face in his hands, massaging his temples. “I need some time. I need to think this over.”

“Please, Clark, do the right thing,” Kory said softly. She stepped forward to hold his hand and Clark took his hand away and pointed at her.

“I SAID,” he repeated sternly. “I need _time_.” He made his way to the front door and left. The sound of him taking off for flight rattled just a few knick knacks on the wall.

Dick sighed and turned to Timothy. “There’s no guarantee he would have reacted better upon arrival,” Tim stated.

“Go talk to him. Make sure he’s okay,” Dick stated. Tim nodded and made his way to the elevator. He descended into the training area and saw the clone furiously punching and kicking a stationary kickboxing dummy. Luckily it was one bolted to the ground and it was made with ballistic padding, but it would likely need to be replaced if he continued.

Tim approached to hear the grunts the clone was making. He heard sniffling in his breathing, and as he approached, he could see the tears on his face. “Hey,” Tim greeted softly. “Did you hear any of that?”

The boy nodded. “Kyrptonian super hearing,” he explained.

“Right,” Tim replied softly. “I’m so sorry, Thirteen.”

“It’s Conner now,” the clone explained.

“What?” Tim asked.

“That’s what he called me. He said ‘He’s a Conner’,” the clone explained.

Tim recalled the conversation and understood where the clone had gotten Conner from. “Okay, then. You’re Conner. I think it’s a great name.”

Conner continued to punch and kick at the dummy. “Do you think I’m dangerous? Do you think I’m evil?”

Tim didn’t know much about Conner. There was so much uncertainty, so much to be hesitant and unsure about. But this was not one, “No, no I don’t.” Tim approached closer to the punching dummy that Conner had been rapidly hitting and he placed his hand in between Conner and the dummy. Conner froze his punch mid-distance, his knuckles touching Tim’s open palm, but there was no force or impact at all. 

Tim wrapped his hand around the fist. He wasn’t sure what came over him, why he felt the need to touch him, but it felt right. Conner opened up his fist and surprised Tim by intertwining their fingers together. Tim’s breath hitched and his heart rate quickened, but he didn’t let go. Conner eyed him knowingly, but didn’t let go. 

“What do I do, Tim?” Conner asked, holding back the tears.

“We prove him wrong,” Tim replied. “You become a Titan. We do good work, and impress him. Can you do that?”

Conner looked hesitant. “How long will that take?”

Tim sighed empathetically. “It may be a long time.” Conner looked dejected and sad again. “But I’ll be with you every step of the way. We’ll do this together.”

Conner looked at their hands, still attached to each other. Conner rubbed his thumb on the back of Tim’s hand before looking back into his eyes. “Together.”


	4. Chapter 4

It had been almost a week since Superman visited Titans Tower and learned of Conner’s existence. Superman had not returned to talk or see Conner. Conner tried to not let it get to him, but Tim could tell it was hard on him.

Conner has been learning how to be a Titan like the rest of them were. He woke up early with Tim, and the two of them would have a few minutes together before the rest of the Teen Titans awoke and trickled in for their group training.

Gar and Bart were excited to have another bro on the team, Cassie was less enthusiastic. However, Tim found himself talking to Cassie more, watching the boys from the sidelines. He was glad Conner was acclimating, he really was, but he found himself no longer wanting to be by himself all of the time. He wanted to be alone with Conner.

“Bart,” Dick replied. “Today you’ll be sparring with Conner. Conner, this is a great time for you to learn how to deal with speedsters.”

Bart chuckled as he stepped into the arena with Conner. He pointed his feet together and hopped back and forth as a boxer would until they started to blur into one, yellow lightning cracking about.

“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into,” Bart said. 

Conner took a deep breath and centered himself. Bart’s blur faded until Bart was visibly hopping back and forth again.

“Beeeeeeeeeeeeeee,” Dick started to say, his voice deep, low, and slow. Bart looked at Conner with a confused expression, realizing something was off. “-ggggggggiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin.”

Bart blasted his way towards Conner. To the room, it was a blast of lightning. To Conner, Bart was jogging right at him. Conner dropped low and extended his leg, causing Bart to fly due to the speed of projection. He immediately hit the durable shatterproof glass of the combat arena walls. The rest of the Titans gasped as they heard the noisy thud of impact followed by watching their friend fall, Conner completely unphased. 

“Clark and Barry race all of the time,” Dick explained. “I can’t say that I am surprised.”

Bart picked himself off of the ground, glaring at Conner. “Oh, ok. SO you’re think you’re some type of super boy, huh? Dodge this.”

Bart hurled a lightning bolt towards Conner. Conner partially moved out of the way, but the lightning struck his shoulder. Conner collapsed on the ground.

“Terminate sequence!” Dick angrily announced as he stormed into the arena. Tim followed his brother, as he was worried about Conner. The door swung open and Kid Flash rolled his eyes for the lecture he was about to get. “You’re not allowed to use lightning on your own teammates! That is for on-field emergencies only!”

“He’s a Kryptonian! He’s more durable!” Bart protested.

“We don’t know his limits yet! You could have dangerously hurt him, or even killed him!” Tim yelled, rushing over to Conner. He was wincing on the ground, propping himself up on his good arm. Tim squatted down, hovering his hands over Conner, unsure if touching him was the best idea. “Hey, hey, I’m here. How are you feeling?”

Conner panted due to the pain, but he looked at Tim’s concerned expression. “I think I’ll be okay. My shoulder just hurts really bad.”

Kory came over to Tim and Connor and squatted down to look at the burn. “Get him to the med bay. I’ll be right there.”

Tim nodded and wrapped his arm under Conner’s good side and helped him get up. They made their way to the medical bay section of their tower. Conner could probably walk by himself, but Time felt the need to support his walking. Conner didn’t mention anything about it.

They made it to the med bay and Tim helped Conner get into the bed. He searched for a first aid kit and brought it over to Conner. “I’m going to need to cut your shirt off of you if you can’t move your arm to remove it.”

“It hurts, cutting it is fine,” Conner winced. Tim nodded and took the fabric scissors to cut through the front of the shirt and then had Conner sit up slightly to make a second cut in the back so the halves could easily be slipped off of the man. 

The burn looked fairly bad. It would have been worse on a human, but it wasn’t pretty. “I am going to do a scan.” He made his way to the computer and typed in a few commands. The device hanging above Conner began to hum with power and it shined a light on his new friend. He made his way to a cabinet to get some burn relief gel for Conner. “Scan complete,” the computer announced.

Tim approached Conner again and eyed his body instinctively. He immediately felt guilty and snapped his attention back to the wound. “This is going to sting because I’m going to need to touch your wound, but I’ll strive to be gentle. I promise this will help it heal and feel better in the long run.”

Conner nodded. “I trust you.” Tim smiled. It appeared this was going to be a common phrase exchanged between the two of them. He scooped some ointment into his fingertips and delicately touched the burn and attempted to smooth it out. Conner groaned in pain with the contact but all Tim could do was mutter ‘sorry’ as he got another generous scoop and applied it generously, not allowing too thin of a layer.

He headed back to the computer to look at the results. Something appeared off on the results. He opened the Justice League database that was accessible on this computer and he put in Dick’s password that he didn’t know Tim had. 

Tim did a quick search for “Superman + Lightning” and had some files appear. He watched a video of Superman getting struck by a meta’s lightning. Superman was mostly unphased, physically, aside from it knocking him off-balance. He clicked on some additional files about Kryptonian physiology.

KYRPTONIANS ARE RESISTANT TO ALL EARTH-BASED ELECTRICITY WHETHER IT BE NATURAL, MECHANICAL, OR ORIGINATED FROM A SPEEDSTER. MAGICALLY-BASED ELECTRICITY MAY VARY.

Conner shouldn’t be too burnt by Bart’s electricity from the speed force. Kory walked into the room and saw Tim already hard at work. He logged out of the Justice League database for good measure.

“Did we test Conner for anything upon his arrival?” Tim asked.

“We were going to delay for a bit. He had just gotten out of a facility where he was prodded and poked and experimented on. Why?” Kory asked.

Conner looked over the DNA and blood analysis on the screen. “He’s only 50% Kryptonian.”

“Really?” Kory asked, approaching the screen. She took control of the mouse and keyboard and examined some additional details. “He’s right, Conner. You’re officially half human.”

“What does this mean for me?” Conner asked.

“We can heal you more easily, but there will be more instances you need healing from. I don’t believe you’ll be as strong as Superman is, but you’ll still be enhanced like he is,” she said. 

Conner looked visibly upset and he stormed out of the bed and quickly super-sped his way out of the room.

“CONNER!” Kory exclaimed.

Tim turned to Kory and gave her an apologetic look. “I’ll find him. I think he’ll talk to me.” Kory nodded and Tim left the room to search for Conner. 

Conner was not in his room or Tim’s. He wasn’t sure why Conner would want to go to Tim’s, but he figured it would be worth a shot. Could Conner fly? He was only partially Kryptonian, so he wasn’t sure. He hoped Connor was still somewhere within the tower. But if Conner _did_ want to fly off, he’d need somewhere to take off. 

He made his way to the roof of Titans Tower. It had been converted into a beautiful garden by Kory, Donna, and Zatanna back in the day. Kory and Cassie kept up with it now. It was relaxing, in theory. Tim always kept himself too busy to waste time up here. 

He saw Conner standing on the round wooden platform that was used for superhero or flightship landings. “I know you maybe want to be alone right now,” Tim said. “-but I don’t feel comfortable leaving you alone until I know you’re okay.”

Connor stood in silence for a few minutes before he turned to Tim, looking dejected. “How will Superman accept me now? I’m not fully his. I’m not a _real_ Kryptonian. If he couldn’t already accept me as his own when he believed I was his, he’ll never come around when he finds that I am even less than.”

“You are _not_ less than. Superman has never considered himself to be more grand than a human. From what Bruce has told me, he struggles with being non-human. He longs for humanity, and is inspired by it. Your humanity might just be what connects you. You are what he’s always wanted to be, honestly; part of his world, and part of this one,” Tim explained.

Conner sniffled and wiped away a tear. “I wish I could believe that.”

“He may actually be _less_ afraid now. He could be more at ease now. If you _were_ a weapon made to hurt him, you wouldn’t fully be able to. That should ease his concerns,” Tim rationed.

“No,” Conner said. “He will _hate_ the human side of me, because _I_ do. We are supposed to the same.”

“Well, unfortunately, that appears to not be the case. Therefore, you could be wrong about his wants and likes,” Tim said. “Being partly human is _good_.”

“Please,” Conner begged. “Please just let me be.”

Tim sighed and resigned himself. “Okay. I’ll be in my room. Please come find me when you’re feeling up for it.”

Tim made his way back inside the tower. Conner looked up at the sky and tried to picture himself flying through the sky, along with his father. He tried to remember what his father feels in order to rise and take off, but the sensation never came to him.

Connor yelled, frustrated at his failure. It was that _human_ side of him betraying him. He felt so inferior and so angry. The conflict between the human in him and the Kryptonion felt so natural, so biological. Superman didn’t have hatred. Connor wondered where that hatred was coming from.

Hours passed and Tim was looking over Bruce’s detective files on his computer when there was a knock at his door. He turned to see Conner, who had redressed in a tank top. He saw bandages on his shoulder indicating he went back to Kory to get patched up. “May I come in?” he asked. Tim nodded and the boy entered, gently pushing the door behind him. Tim turned in his chair to face him and Conner nervously paced in.

“You can sit on my bed,” Tim suggested. Conner was probably feeling awkward about standing. He gave Tim a thankful nod and smile before plopping himself down.

“I’m sorry for being so short and terse with you earlier,” he apologized. “I guess I don’t have much experience dealing with negative emotions or conflict management.”

“I accept your apology. You were hurting badly, understandably so, and I didn’t give you much time to cool off,” Tim replied.

“No, please, don’t make excuses for my behavior. You’ve been nothing but wonderful to me my entire time here,” Conner replied.

Tim chuckled. “I am not making excuses for you. I am accepting my responsibility. I’ll let you know when you do something completely wrong that isn’t on me at all.” Conner laughed softly. “Like telling Supes about you too fast? Maybe that was a bad idea.”

Conner smiled softly, not cringing at his name. “It’s what I wanted, and it’s what Clark wanted. Just because some consequences were negative, doesn’t mean it was a bad call.”

Tim smiled at Conner’s wisdom. “How are you so wise already? You’re less than two weeks old.”

Conner laughed harder that time, appreciating Tim’s joke. “It’s been a process. I think I have Clark’s thirty-five year old brain in this eighteen year old body.” Tim didn’t respond, he just smiled at his new friend. It was nice to have someone mature around. Gar and Bart were not intelligent ones and were too performatively masculine, like frat guys, for his taste and he just didn’t click with Cassie. All of the adults of the Justice League: Dick, Kory, Bruce; they all treated him like a child still. Conner was so different than anyone else he had met.

“What’s _your_ dad like?” Conner asked. “I feel like there’s so much I still don’t know about you.”

“My biological dad, Jack, was a decent man. That’s why my middle name is Jackson, because I was Jack’s son. We were rich, so I had private tutors and stuff like that. He was busy, but not too busy for me. I remember we went to the circus back in the day when Dick Grayson downstairs was an acrobat. I always loved coming to the circus, I had seen it a hundred times. I liked going with my parents, but honestly, I remember being very fixated on….Grayson.” Tim hesitated. He hadn’t openly told anyone about his fascination with guys. He figured he knew what it meant, but he tried to push it down more and more. Maybe it was a phase. Maybe once he said it, it would be that way forever. 

“Anyways, I watched Grayson over and over again. I got to meet him and his parents one time. We all got a photo together. I was devastated when I heard about his parents dying mid-act. I’d never see the circus again. I thought I’d never see Grayson again. And then Batman had undertaken a protege, Nightwing. He was caught on film, and I realized he was not only an acrobat, but he was Dick Grayson specifically. Dick Grayson, who had been adopted by Bruce Wayne post-circus incident. Bruce Wayne was the only man who’d be able to afford all of Batman’s resources.”

Conner look at him intently as Tim told his story. “So I had a secret, I knew who the Batman was,and I asked my dad to put me in as many martial arts classes and dance classes as possible. My parents were happy, they thought I was being social. I was just training to join them some day. The classes took up all of my free time, so I had very little time with my parents. And then Batman took on Jason Todd, and then my mother got sick. And then my mother died. Then Jason was murdered by Joker. News reports about Batman becoming sloppy and reckless began to emerge after his loss. And then my father died too.”

Conner moved up from the bed and made his way to Tim. He kneeled down at the floor behind him, right in front of his chair. He was inches away from Tim, but didn’t move to touch him comfortingly or hug him or anything. He just looked at up him from the ground and waited for Tim to continue.

“I had wasted my last few moments I could’ve had with my dad training to be some Robin, and now I was an orphan just like Dick Grayson. I knew I would be adopted soon and shipped away so I went to Wayne Manor and more or less blackmailed Bruce Wayne into adopting me first, and demanding to be Red Robin. And now Dick Grayson is technically my step-brother, so that’s not awkward at all.”

Connor let out a small chuckle. “What is Batman like?”

“Emotionally distant. We are a surprisingly good match. He wasn’t looking for a third son and I wasn’t looking for a second father. I still struggle with considering him family. This felt like a mutually beneficial business arrangement. But he’s surprised me a few times. He’s shown he cared, in small ways. The first birthday I had after the adoption, he had made me my favorite food. It was Orange Chicken and Mac and Cheese. Terrible food for a fourteen year old, and I don’t remember telling him I liked those, but he remembered. He made it himself, not Alfred. I could tell because Alfred probably would have made it better. He also bakes me a cake and he gave me one of his father’s watches. Thomas Wayne only had four, not a hundred, so it was sort of a big deal. One he had when he died, Bruce keeps that in a morbid display. One he wears, one he gave to Dick, and I got the fourth. He said he had considered giving it to Jason when he was much older if he matured. But he said a boy of my intellect and prowess was already doing important work already, so….”

Conner smiled at him so softly. Tim had never had anyone look at him that way before. It made him feel so vulnerable, when he was already spitting out his life story. “-anyways, I think he was just complimenting me for not being loud or annoying.”

“Nah,” Conner said. “I think he knew you were special.”

Tim scoffed. “I’m not special. I’m just some nerdy punk seventeen year old.” 

Conner gave him another one of those kryptonite smiles that weakened him to his core. “You’re special to me.”

Tim spun the chair around to get away from the super boy’s gaze. “You hardly know me,” he countered. It wasn’t an angry tone, but he was feeling bashful. He felt Conner standing up behind him and he felt the Kryptonian’s hand on his shoulder. 

“But I know you better now,” Conner said softly. “And I’m getting to know you more and more each day.”

Conner removed himself and stepped away, but his words still lingered. Tim hadn’t had a close friendship before, and he wasn’t sure if this was friendly or if it was more. It was hard to deny that he had the same interest in Conner that younger him had regarding Grayson back in the day, but he wanted to push those feelings down. Conner made it difficult though.

Conner made his way to the door and looked back at Tim. “Goodnight, Tim. Thank you for supporting me.”

“Goodnight, Conner,” he said softly as the super boy left his room. The air felt empty without his presence, and Tim found himself wishing that maybe it would have been better for him to stay.


	5. Chapter 5

It was an average day for the Titans; they had training in the morning, and now they could spend the day as they pleased. It had been one month since they found Conner and rescued him. Superman had not been by the tower, but Bruce confirmed to Tim that he had been discussed in the Justice League meetings. Clark was unusually quiet during those conversations.

Tim spent a lot of free time possible with Conner. Dick and Kory were happy he was finally socializing and made a friend. Tim forced himself to give himself breaks from Conner; he would drown his attention in the case files Bruce sent him. He had felt lonely when he did those files now- that was never the case before. Conner would find his way to Tim’s room at night, and Tim found himself happy and relieved by Conner’s presence, and they would talk.

Conner had been trying a variety of hobbies and projects to see what he liked for himself so he could develop his own personality and interests. Gar and Bart educated him on memes and showed him lots of movies and videogames. He helped Cassie in the garden and she taught him how to paint. She had been giving him some books and Conner found those to be more interesting that the movies. Tim figured that might come from Clark. He was a journalist after all, but he didn’t want to mention him at all. 

Tim found out Conner had an affinity for technology. Their AI had a glitch, and they were going to call Barbara or Ray, but Conner walked right up with some tools and began to patch it.

“How do you know how to do this, Conner?” Kory asked.

“I think I get this from Clark,” Conner said. “He’s a good mechanic. He’s repaired a lot of cars with his dad and tractors and stuff.”

Kory looked at Dick peculiarly, but Dick shrugged it off. Tim had a theory he wanted to check, but shortly after the AI was repaired, the alarms went off.

They all quickly sped into uniform. Conner didn’t have one yet. They hadn’t formally discussed Conner going on missions yet. They still wanted to observe him, but he was in the briefing room on Kori’s ship right before takeoff with a black fitting athletic shirt with Superman’s crest decaled on the front.

Dick and Kory eyed him suspiciously. “Is that how you want to be seen to the public?”

Conner nodded. “I’m ready to help. And the people should know I am Kryptonian. This sigil inspires hope. People trust Superman, and they can trust me. I’m going to be Superboy.”

Kory smiled. “Okay, Superboy.”

“There is a terror attack in Metropolis. There are multiple large statues wreaking havoc on Metropolis. Inanimate objects are being hurled at civilians. Our foe is telekinetic,” Dick explained.

An image of the man appeared on screen. He wore a reinforced red super suit for defense and red cowl to keep his face covered. 

“Superman has requested backup, but we are focusing on protecting civilians and taking down the animated statues. Do _not_ engage with the telepath directly. Put in your comm devices,” Kory ordered. They all put the telepathic ear devices in their ears.

They arrived in Metropolis in just a few minutes thanks to the high speeds of the Tamaranian ship. They descended safely to the street from the ship’s gravity well.

“Bart, take North. Beast Boy and Wondergirl, you’re East. Red Robin and Superboy, go West. Dick and I have South,” Kori instructed. 

They all made their way through the streets of the city. Red Robin launched a small bat-shaped drone that was resting in a device attached to his arm and it flew off above them. “This drone is going to be an extra set of eyes for us.”

“That’s very handy,” Superboy said as he jogged along with Robin. The small screen on his arm pinged and Robin gestured for Superboy to follow. They turned the corner to see a large stone statue stomping down the city street. 

“Civilians are gone,” Robin said. “We only need to take care of this dummy.”

Superboy sped at high speed and jumped up a few paces away to launch himself towards the statue’s chest. He shattered part of the stone chest and made the statue stumble, but it didn’t shatter.

“These statues are abnormally sturdy. Superboy’s strength should've shattered this thing,” Tim relayed telepathically. 

“Thank you for the heads up,” Beast Boy said. “Guess it’s rhino time.”

“Robin!” Superboy exclaimed. As the statue repositioned itself upright. Robin hurled some explosive batarangs that buried themselves into the weakened chest of the statue. They exploded after a moment and weakened it more, but it was still up.”

“The torso is too thick. The legs are scrawnier. Go for the legs, people,” Tim communicated.

“Never skip leg day,” Bart joked.

“Legs it is,” Conner replied. He sprinted full speed again and this time broke clear through the kneecap of the statue. Its remaining leg bent as it collapsed to the ground. Tim sprinted towards the statue and threw batarangs at the remaining limbs. They explode upon impact, cracking them, and Superboy used his strength to ravage the fractures until it was completely immobile. 

“Thank you, Superboy,” Tim thanked as he approached his partner. “You did all the heavy work.”

“I’ll always have your back,” Conner said with a wink. Before Tim could process it, Conner was speeding off to a new street.

“Beast Boy and I have our target subdued,” Wondergirl commed. 

“I need help with mine,” Bart replied. “I’m only one guy and this thing is lightning-proof.”

“Superboy and I are on the way,” Tim thought as he followed Conner towards Bart’s quadrant. 

“So are we,” Wondergirl added.

The four of them converged on Bart and stood by him as they saw the statue pick up a car and hurl it towards them. Conner wrapped his arm around Robin and supersped them out of the way. The rest of the Teen Titans dodges on their own accords. 

Tim found himself being held by Conner and Conner looked at him with a relieved expression. “Are you okay?” Conner asked.

“I’m fine,” Tim replied “Put me down.” Conner nodded and gently set him down on the ground.

Cassie twirled her lasso until it glowed golden. “I’m going to pull this thing down. Everyone else go for the limbs.” She shucked her arms and the lasso magically wrapped around one of the statue’s legs. With a sharp tug, the bound leg was lifted and the statue fell backwards. 

Superboy launched himself high into the air. Tim and the other heroes were all surprised at the height he got. He descended back to the earth with great velocity and shattered one of the arms.

“All right!” Beast Boy exclaimed. “My turn!” He morphed himself into a bird into the sky before shifting into a rhinoceros and descending down onto the unbound leg. Cassie twirled her lasso rapidly with immense vigor that the vibrations looked like a golden wave. The statue’s leg was twisted until it shattered off.

“Get me to the remaining arm,” Robin ordered Kid Flash. Kid Flash nodded and zoomed Tim down the street, throwing him into the air. He now had the distance to throw the last of his explosive batarangs at the final limb. They impacted the stone and blew up, shattering the stone.

He was prepared to stick his landing, but heard a small grunt and the sound of liftoff before he felt two arms wrap around him and hold him as they descended. He turned to see Connor was holding him for the second time.

“I would have landed fine,” Tim protested as he was set back down.

“I don’t care,” Conner said with a smirk. “I’ll be there to catch you when you fall.” 

Their silent staring at one another was interrupted when they heard a loud boom and saw the red villain being launched right at them. 

“Get back!” Superboy ordered as he jumped and punched the incoming villain, interrupting his line of projection upon collision with his fist. Superboy landed gracefully as the villain just collapsed. Superman swiftly landed and made his way to the villain.

Superman’s eyes caught glimpse of Superboy and then he looked down at the shirt, seeing the red crest.

“Who gave you permission to wear that?” Clark asked angrily.

“Every decal store and most cheesy clothing stores sell it,” Conner replied defensively.

“I didn’t authorize you to allude yourself to me publically like this,” he replied.

“I don’t have a super suit yet, and I wanted to let the people know they can trust me,” Conner countered.

“We don’t know if you can be trusted yet!” Clark shouted.

“Says the guy that just sucker punched a villain into a group of children! I stopped your poorly planned projectile, you’re welcome, and we’ve stopped his statues,” Conner argued.

“Nightwing and Starfire shouldn’t have authorized you to be on this mission!” he argued.

“I’ve been training for a month! I have all of your memories on the battlefield and-”

“You have my WHAT!?”

“I know what you know,” Conner finished. “I have your skills and abilities and your expertise, I am _ready_.”

“No.” Clark said flatly. “You’re too dangerous to be on the field. I am forbidding Nightwing and Starfire from allowing you on _any_ missions. A rogue Kryptonian made my LuthorCorp with insider Justice League knowledge is a liability.”

“He’s only half Kryptonian,” Tim interjected.

“What?” Superman asked.

“He’s half human, and vulnerable. He is not as powerful as you. Superboy hasn’t done anything-”

“ _SUPERBOY_!?” he angrily exclaimed/

“-to warrant such distrust. Without his help, we couldn’t have stopped the statues and he gets exceptional scores in all of his training!”

Kory flew down to join the rest, carrying Dick by a built-in harness in the back of his suit. “What is going on?”

“You let this…..”

“Conner,” Tim corrected.

“-Conner onto the field without consulting the Justice League or examining the risks and you’ve conveniently failed to mention he can tap into all of my memories and information on the Justice League,” Superman said sternly.

“The Teen Titans are supervised by _us,_ Supes,” Grayson said sternly. “You requested our assistance, and you got it. We don’t need Justice League approval regarding who we dispatch on missions.”

“And you let him represent me and refer to himself as ‘Superboy’? What if Luthor’s evil protocols activated and he started harming the city looking like me?” Superman asked.

“First of all,” Conner replied angrily, forcing Superman to turn his attention to him. “I am right here. Second, perhaps if you’d been at the tower and monitored me as they have been and watching me train, you wouldn’t have these concerns.”

“Who is your human DNA from?” Superman asked.

“What?” Superboy asked.

“You’re my clone, but not fully. You’re half human, so you have a human donor. Who is that donor?” Superman asked angrily.

“I don’t know!” Superboy exclaimed.

“And _that_ is why I will always be concerned. You were forged by Lex Luthor, the man who wants me dead, for an unknown purpose. Therefore, you can never be trusted to work with The League,” Superman said.

Tim unsheathed his retractable staff and angrily swung it at Superman. It had no impact and dented upon impact with Superman’s face.

“ROBIN!” Dick angrilly exclaimed. Superman just scowled at Timothy.

“I was wrong about Superman,” Conner replied. “The people are wrong. They think you’re a hero and a good person, but you’re not. You’re an egomaniac bully with a delusion of grandeur. You don’t subdue your adversaries peacefully, you just use brute force and pummel them into the ground, destroying everything in your battles. And I no longer want anything to do with you, just as you have made it clear you don’t want anything to do with me.”

Superboy sped off with his Kyrptonian speed. “SUPERBOY!” Kory yelled.

Tim was in shock at his sudden absence. He was right here next to him, and now he was gone. He should have done more to defend Conner.

“What have you done?” Dick asked. “If he’s as dangerous as you want to believe he is, you just made him run away and made him hate you and the rest of us.”

“You should have kept him in the tower,” Clark argued.

“No, you should have visited him. You are in the wrong here, this time.” Kory said.

Dick took out a comms device and let it ring. “Oracle, are you online? We need a scan of Metropolis through San Francisco, looking for our Kryptonian, Conner.”

“Now I see why you and Batman don’t get along,” Tim replied tersely. 

“I don’t care about that playboy’s opinion of me,” Superman said.

“That playboy is infinitely more selfless than the symbol for truth, hope, and American ideals. Perhaps you should consider getting some.”

“Thank you, Barbara,” Dick said as he hung up the phone.

“She’ll try to search as soon as she can get to the batcave. She wasn’t expecting us and can only access Gotham remotely,” Dick replied.

“Let’s go home,” Kori said, giving Clark a glare. They made their way back to the ship, leaving Clark behind to take off to the skies.

Tim took out his phone and texted Bruce. “I need to test a theory. Please find an artifact with Lex Luthor’s DNA and send me the DNA analysis, please.”

They had been home for a few hours, with still no sign of Conner when his phone pinged from Bruce. “Sent to your email.”

Tim made a quick beeline for the medical wing and brought up his computer.

_“How do you know how to do this Conner?” “You’re half human, so you have a human donor. Who is that donor?”_

“Compare DNA sample A against DNA sample B,” Tim spoke to the AI. The calculation loading bar progressed until it was filled.

PATERNAL MATCH. KENT, CONNER. 50% KENT, CLARK. 50% LUTHOR, LEX.

“Shit,” Tim said.


	6. Chapter 6

“I was wrong about Superman,” Conner growled. “The people are wrong. They think you’re a hero and a good person, but you’re not. You’re an egomaniac bully with a delusion of grandeur. You don’t subdue your adversaries peacefully, you just use brute force and pummel them into the ground, destroying everything in your battles. And I no longer want anything to do with you, just as you have made it clear you don’t want anything to do with me.”

Superboy sped off away from Superman and the Teen Titans. He heard Kory yell after him, but he didn’t stop. He kept running until he was at the edge of the Metropolis Bay, looking on the other side of the waters to faintly see Gotham in the distance with his supervision. 

He didn’t get far, and Clark was faster. Clark could hear his Kryptonian heartbeat. If Clark was remorseful, if he wanted to apologize, he was right here. Could Tim come? He probably got too far from Tim, and his drone was likely too small. But what he wouldn’t give for Tim to show up right behind him and hug him, hold him.

He felt the ship fly by back to San Francisco, even though it was cloaked. They didn’t stop for him, but they likely couldn’t scan for him, or they were looking for him now. Tim would make them do something, he was sure. But Superman wasn’t coming.

Conner _hated_ Superman. His anger fueled him. He wanted to punch him in his smug face so badly. He could _envision_ it. He imagined his fist colliding with his jaw. He heard the snap of the bone under his metallic knuckles.

Conner opened his eyes. Why were his knuckles metallic? He had accessed a memory, but it wasn’t in Superman’s point of view, it was someone else’s. He remembered the weight of the metallic suit, fueled by kryptonite. He remembered building it, wiring it, welding it. That’s why he was good with the computer, it was his other parent. His other parent _hated_ Superman. 

His other dad was Lex Luthor. He saw Lex looking at himself in a mirror. He remembered the LuthorCorp logos. He remembered the feel of Superman’s neck under the iron grasp of his mechanical fist. Conner desperately wanted to feel that again. Lex Luthor is _exactly_ who Conner needed to see.

He made his way through the city of Metropolis until he made it to the uptown area that had the nicest corporate skyscrapers. He eventually made his way inside of the building. The lobby was ornate and glamorous. Everything was sheik and modern, Luthor definitely spared no expense. 

He made his way to the front desk where he was greeted by the secretary. “Good Afternoon, welcome to LuthorCorp. How may I help you?”

“Can you please call extension 71310 and advise him that his son is here to see him?” Conner asked.

“Certainly,” she said cheerfully. She typed in the numbers and then her expression drastically changed upon realization. “I-I’m sorry, I believe you have the wrong extension number.”

“Luthor. Comma. Alexander,” he stated. “Tell him it’s his _thireteen_ o’clock.”

The secretary let out a nervous laugh. “Mr. Luthor has no children and it’s three pm which would be fifteen….”

“Then call his assistant Mercy Graves, 71312 and relay the message, please,” Conner replied sternly.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she said nervously as she dialed. The secretary waited until the call was answered and he watched as she physically shifted into her customer service self. “Miss Graves, terribly sorry to inconvenience you. There is a gentleman in the lobby who was adamant about contacting you and Me. Luthor. He claims to be Luthor’s son and says they had a one-”

“Thirteen-” Conner clarified.

“ _Thirteen_ o’clock appointment,” she said nervously. “Does that mean-”. Connor heard the hold noise through the phone with his super hearing and she looked nervously at Conner. “I’m on hold.”

Conner nodded and waited for the tone to change. The secretary’s expression changed to one of confusion. “I will, right away.” She set the phone down and smiled anxiously at Conner. “Mr. Luthor is expecting you.”

She moved a few feet away from her computer and squatted below the counter. He heard some mechanical buttons being typed and a metal door opening, likely a safe. She handed him a gold card that looked like a hotel room key. “The elevator on the most right. The gold one. It’s Luthor’s private elevator. It’ll only work with that key card. He’s in the penthouse level, P1.”

“Thank you,” Conner said coldly as he took the card from the secretary and made his way around the corner to the various elevators. They were all platinum silver aside from the very last one which was gold as mentioned. He put his card in the slot and removed it, the light above it turning green. He heard the elevator descend from the very top floors all the way down to him. It was fairly fast for an elevator, but Luthor was the smartest and most technically inclined guy on the planet.

The door opened and Conner stepped in. There was a touch screen with a numerical keypad as well as “P1” and “P2” buttons. P2 was likely Luthor’s private residence. He hit P1 and felt the elevator lift him up to the top of the corporate skyscraper.

The doors opened to reveal what looked like a living room interior of a royal mansion. The walls were ornate glossy wooden paneling with golden accents and the carpet was dynasty red with golden swirls. There were couches set up and glass tables with an office desk on the far back wall by the windows.

“Step forward to the desk,” Mercy ordered. Despite her name, she wasn’t a very kind robot. She looked so realistic, he was positive others didn’t even know she wasn’t human. “Hand.”

Conner held out his hand, and Mercy held it. He felt a prick in his skin and some suction. She had drawn blood. He felt a light stitching moment before she let go and he looked down to see the small wound had been sealed.

“Project Thirteen confirmed,” she said aloud. She likely has direct contact to Lex via an ear piece or something similar. “Please have a seat if you’d like.”

Conner sat and looked over at a staircase that had a ceiling high glass partition with doors. That was likely the access to Luthor’s home portion. He waited until he saw the man descend down the staircase. Bald hair, designer suit, ingenuine smile; that was Lex Luthor.

He opened the door and made his way to Conner. “It is wonderful to see you again,” he greeted. “This is your first time seeing me, however.”

Conner stood up as the man approached and Luthor held out his hand to shake Conner’s, and he did. “Have you set up a name for yourself, my child?” Lex asked.

“Conner,” he replied.

Lex smiled at the answer. “What brings you to me, Conner?”

“Did you anticipate that I would have memories of both your lives and Superman’s lives?” Conner asked.

Lex looked genuinely pleased. “That was a goal of ours, but we had no way of knowing whether or not that would have held until you woke up. The initial twelve attempts were not even able to sustain life, let alone provide us with an opportunity to test for cognitivity or intellect.”

Lex Luthor sat down on the couch and crossed his leg over the other, eying Connor up and down.

“What was I made for?” Conner asked.

Lex smirked in return and brought his hand to his jaw, tugging on it, contemplating how much truth to provide to Conner. He looked up at the clone and smiled. “I wanted a Kryptonian I could condition and control. Superman cannot be trusted. He does what he wants and isn’t accountable. If he decides to turn his back on humanity, we do not have any defense against him.”

Connor smirked; at least his fathers were consistent. This was the same argument Superman had just used on him. “Why didn’t you come find me after I broke out?”

Mercy walked over and handed Lex a glass of scotch and he chuckled at Conner’s question. “You were in the company of the Titans in San Francisco. There is little I can do without violating certain diplomacies and having myself be outed as a villain to the Justice League. The world thinks I am a charitable businessman. Hating meta humans and aliens is just a side hobby of mine.”

Conner stood silent as he watched Lex take a drink. “You never answered _my_ question, however. What brought you here to me?”

Conner smiled mischievously at Lex Luthor. “I want to destroy Superman.” 

It had been two days since Conner ran away from the Titans, and Barbara had not been able to locate any sign of him. Tim knew that this was because Conner was a Luthor, and Conner had to have figured it out. He knew LuthorCorp had the technology to shield from their scans. 

Tim had been debating telling Dick or Kory for the past two days, but what could they do? They couldn’t storm LutherCorp. Lex would have a PR field day with that. He loved every and any opportunity to paint the Titans or the Justice League in a negative light.

He also couldn’t tell Dick or Kory because Tim was maybe, hopefully, the last person Conner could trust, and Tim would not be severing that trust.

His phone vibrated and he saw a text from an unknown number. “Rooftop. Come alone. CK.” 

Tim bolted out of his chair and made his way to the elevator and rapidly hit the button. Stressing as he impatiently waited for it to come down. He hopped back inside and waited for the doors to slowly close. Damn, they needed to upgrade their elevator. 

It finally reached the top of the penthouse and Tim bolted his way to the center platform, looking around. Conner couldn’t be found.

“Up here,” he heard a voice. He turned his head up to the night sky and saw a red cape flapping in the wind. It slowly floated and descended down. It was Connor, and he was wearing a suit nearly identical to Superman’s, except this one was pitch black with the red logo and red cape. No wonder he couldn’t see him against the black sky.

“You can fly now,” Tim said casually, but impressed.

Conner nodded. “I can fly now.”

“Did Lex Luthor make you that suit?” Tim asked.

Conner just stood in silence. “So you know?”

Tim nodded. “I put it together when Superman asked you who your human half was. Bruce gave me a sample of Lex Luthor’s DNA and I compared it against yours.”

“That’s pretty resourceful of you,” he replied. Conner was suppressing his emotions. He wasn’t smiling, he wasn’t soft or happy to be in Tim’s presence.

“Come back to us,” Tim said. “Nobody else knows about the Luthor thing, and they don’t need to. They don’t need any other reason to doubt you. You’re the Conner we know, you’re our friend. However much you’ve bonded with Lex the past two days, it doesn’t matter. I know you’re the person who was here with me.”

“I’m not that same person, Tim,” Conner said softly. “But that’s okay, I have a plan.”

Tim got nervous. Plan and Lex Luthor was not a positive combo. “What’s your plan?”

“It’s just a little something to get Superman’s attention, to force him to talk to me and make him give me a chance,” Connor said, holding back his tears.

“What is your plan, Connor?” Tim said, slowly approaching him. Connor began to look more and more emotional.

“I can’t tell you. I don’t want you to look at me any differently,” Connor replied.

“Whatever Lex has suggested or offered, this is not the way, Connor.” Tim pleaded, moving closer. “He can’t be trusted.”

“I know. But Luthor has already been a better father to me in the past two days than Clark has in a month. I can’t go on like this,” he cried.

Tim grabbed his hand gently and held it. “There are other ways. Just please, stay here and we can work something out.”

“I’m sorry, Tim, but I’ve been here a month, waiting patiently as you said. And even when I did something good and saved the day. The _one_ thing that would have made Clark proud and have him love me, it _DIDN’T WORK!”_ Conner cried.

Tim began to tear up at Conner’s pain, and Conner let out his tears as well. “Don’t do this, Conner,” Tim begged.

Conner pulled Tim in close and lifted his chin up to his. Before Tim could process, Conner ‘s mouth was on his. It was his first kiss and he was sharing it with a guy. Not just any guy, his best friend. It made Tim accept all of the feelings he had been burying and harboring. This felt so right in the world.

Conner removed himself, despite how much Tim wanted to continue, and have him stay with him on this rooftop.

“I needed to do that before your opinion of me changed,” Conner said, the heartbreak and remorse clear in his voice.

“You can stay,” Tim pleaded, his voice breaking in turn. “And it doesn’t have to.”

Conner just shook his head, more tears welling in his eyes. “Goodbye, Timothy.” Conner rose up back into the night sky and then zoomed off into the distance, leaving Tim all alone to wonder what Superboy had in store.


	7. Chapter 7

It was the next morning after Superboy visited Tim on the roof and Superboy stated to Tim that he had a plan to get Superboy’s attention. If it involved Lex Luthor, it wasn’t good. He felt like he was betraying Conner, but he had left him no choice; he had to tell Dick and Kory the truth: Superboy was Lex Luthor’s son as much as Clark Kent’s, and that they were planning something to draw him out.

The Titans as well as Superman were all on high alert. Superman took the day off work from his day job as Daily Planet reporter and Kori’s ship was already deployed in the air in stealth mode above the city.

“Are you sure Superboy’s plan was today?” Kori asked.

“No, but Superboy must know that I’d tell you, and we know that while Luthor is patient, he isn’t one to leave himself exposed, and he is capable of striking quick and fast,” Tim stated.

“Starfire, Wonder Girl, and Beast Boy are the only ones who are able to fight Superboy in the air,” Grayson said. “If you can get him to the ground, we can assist with subduing him.”

Tim felt terrible about this; his friends were gathered to stop him from doing something terrible. He didn’t need opposition, he needed love and support. Conner refused that option, though.

Suddenly, an explosion went off downtown. Dick and Kory began pressing buttons in the cockpit until a map appeared. “Explosion at Metropolis Children’s Hospital,” she stated.

Tim’s heart clenched and ached. Sick children, that’s who Superboy had to target. He wanted to believe this wasn’t Superboy.

“Superman, can you get down there?” Dick asked over comms.

“Not quite,” Superman said as Superboy floated in front of him. 

“Deploying ground team. Assist with the evacuation of the hospital,” Kori said as she activated the gravity wells.

Red Robin, Nightwing, and Kid Flash made their way down to the ground.

“You okay, Robin?” Grayson asked.

No, he wasn’t, but he couldn’t let it distract from the mission. “That doesn’t matter,” he replied. “We need to get these children to safety.”

Superman glared angrily at his clone, dressed like him, but in a dark villainous black. “What have you done?”

“I wanted to speak,” Conner replied. “You didn’t care when I saved people. You said you were expecting me to do harm instead. So, I gave you what you wanted, which was to be right. Was it worth it?”

“This was not my making!” Superman shouted.

“This was _entirely_ your making!” Superboy cried. “Which is why I’m giving you a choice. Just say you’re sorry. I will stop the other bombs, help save the children, and surrender myself to the Justice League on the condition that I remain under your care and supervision.”

“I want _nothing_ to do with you,” Clark growled. 

Conner’s rage boiled in him at the repeated rejection from his father. He screamed at the top of his lungs and let his laser vision blast towards Clark. Clark dodged and tackled Superboy and flew downwards to pile him into the ground. 

Conner quickly flipped the two of them and blew his frost breath to seperate them. The breath pushed Clark downwards instead, allowing him the opportunity to fly up.

“Bombs it is,” Conner growled.

“There’s more bombs in the hospital,” Superman commed as he fell. 

Tim activated his bat drone and it scanned the burning building. “Kid Flash! Retrieve them!”

“On it!” Bart exclaimed. The world slowed down as Bart made his way to Tim, frozen by time. He slipped Tim’s device off his arm and looked at the displayed map. The drone had pinpointed the remaining bombs. Kid Flash made his way to each of them and carried them out of the building and he dove into the bay. 

The water slowed him down significantly and they burst, shooting him out of the water with a massive splash. He hit the ground hard and painfully. He likely had broken ribs and a concussion, but luckily his speed force regenerative healing was kicking in and he’d be back in the fight in a few minutes.

“Good job, KF, if you can hear me,” Tim replied, seeing the device had been placed back on his arm prior to KF going in the water.

Kori and Cassie descended in front of Conner in the sky. “Conner,” Kori threatened. “This is not the way.”

Conner sensed as Superman had regained altitude and was behind him too. “Three versus one? Seems a little unfair.”

He kicked his heels together and his suit began to glow green. Conner began to grunt and Clark began to choke. Clark began to fall out of the sky.

“Cassie!” Kori ordered.

“On it!” she said as she flew down to save the man. Conner chuckled.

“I’m only half Krptonian so this hurts him more than me. I also have a little added Luthor strength in my veins,” Conner said.

“I’m sorry, Conner,” Starfire said as she began to hurl fireballs towards Conner. He swerved and dodged most of them. One of them hit his side and he grunted in pain. “Stand down!”

He turned back to her with fierce animosity. “Never!” Starfire began to throw more and Conner blew his frost breath to negate them. Once she had paused, Conner sped forward to strike her, making her go back flying.

Conner grunted from the exhaustion his kryptonite aura was causing him. He hit his heels together again to turn it off and he caught his breath. He reached into a snug pocket and took out a glowing yellow pill and popped it into his mouth and swallowed it. He felt his body re-energize and fuel with Kryptonian power.

He flew forward again to strike Kory again as she recovered, knocking into her again. “Wonder Girl, I could use your help if Superman’s safe!” 

Conner flew closer to Kory but felt a rope loop wrap around his torso, binding his arms together. Cassie came into Conner’s view and he chuckled. “What are you going to do? Make me tell the truth? Here’s the truth: I hate you all, and I won’t stop until Superman pays for what he’s done to me!”

“This isn’t the truth lasso. This is Zeus’s lasso,” she said with a smirk. Lightning surged through the golden fibers until they were electrocuting Conner. He screamed in agony and began to writhe defensively. 

Cassie stopped the electricity out of pity, receiving an angry scowl from Conner. “I’m going to make you pay for that.” He twirled his body, the lasso wrapping even more around him until there was no more slack. Then, Cassie began to move along with the rope. She tried to counter-fly, but Conner was strong. She was dragged in the air in circles, getting closer to Conner. As soon as she was by him, he headbutted her and knocked her out of the sky, allowing the lasso to loosen around him.

“Cassie!” Kory yelled as she flew down to try to catch her.

Superboy descended to the Earth to face Superman again. He reactivated his Kryptonite aura for good measure. “This is your last chance, Clark,” Superboy threatened. “I know Luthor’s plans for you. If you just say you’re sorry, we can team up and stop him together. Just give me a chance! Take the time to get to know me! I like reading, your news articles are my favorites. I like video games and watching sci-fi movies, like eighties classics!”

“I don’t care!” Superman screamed. “I will stop Luthor on my own. You are a villain, Conner! Nobody chose this but you!”

Conner furiously kicked a fire hydrant by him, causing it to burst with a powerful geyser of water. He stepped on the forceful waters and angled his foot to direct the blast on Clark, effectively knocking him down.

Water was going into his nose and mouth, the pressure was too strong and he was too weak from the Kryptonite to stand. Just as he thought he was about the drown, the blast on him stopped, and the world just felt like standard rain. He coughed some of the water out and looked up to see that Superboy had disappeared.


	8. Chapter 8

Clark stood inside the Watchtower, looking down at the Earth below. After that fight. He had flown up to the sun to recharge. Being drained by Kryptonite had taken a lot out of him. 

Bruce entered the observatory that Clark was standing in and he slowly approached his friend. They had a complicated history the two of them; they rarely agreed, always fought, but they would both die for the other, and they always came when the other called.

“How are you feeling?” Bruce asked. Clark scoffed. Batman wasn’t one for emotional comfort.

“I’m furious, Bruce. He almost killed children! Sick children!” Clark yelled.

Bruce nodded. “We did some diagnostics on the bombs. The initial one that exploded was in a desolate wing under construction, no life forms in range. The bomb initially had a large blast radius, but it had been tampered with prior to the explosion to be significantly reduced. The remaining bombs were set up with similarly weak charges and a long activation time between detonation and the actual explosion.”

“What are you saying?” Clark asked. “That Superboy _cared_? That he should be forgiven for being slightly less dangerous? He still put plenty of children at risk!”

“I think he is an upset, lonely boy who thinks he can only have attention from you if he is your enemy because that’s what you wanted him to be,” Bruce said.

“So you’re saying this is my fault too?” Clark asked.

“I am saying there was an opportunity you could have taken that you chose not to. How many of the villains we fight became evil because of their parents rejection, neglect, or abuse? If any of these people we fight were given love from the start, and been raised with empathy, they wouldn’t be where they are,” Bruce lectured.

“I am _NOT_ his father!” Clark shouted.

“But you could be,” Bruce replied. “I took in Grayson when he needed me. I took in Jason. I took in Timothy. They were hurt, angry boys that grew up decent, aside from the dangerous vigilante stuff. Maybe this wasn’t the best point to make.” Clark chuckled at Bruce’s realization. “They’re all genuinely good though. Jason was still angry at the world, but he was getting there…”

“You’ve tried to have Joker rehabilitated through and through, but he escapes from Arkham every time and kills,” Clark said. _He killed Jason_. Clark didn’t have to say that for Bruce to know what he meant.

“Joker is the worst of the worst. I’ve gotten through to others before. Barry helped Killer Frost reform, and now she’s one of his teammates in Central City. Sara Lance was an assassin. Conner is a boy who is one month old who only wanted to know one man. The world must be so confusing and terrifying for him. He has all this knowledge, but no experience, and nobody to help him through it.”

“He had Dick and he had Kory,” Clark said softly. 

“But he has memories of _you_ and he has _your_ personality and _your_ feelings,” Bruce said. “He’s a clone, and he knows, and I’m sure all he wants is to know how to be his own person. And he’s been treated like less than that.”

Clark sighed. “Do you know how violating it feels, though? A person was made out of me that knows _everything_ about me. He was made by someone who wants me dead more than anything, and Conner has the knowledge to do it. What if he moved in with me? And the moment my guard was down, he kills me? Or kills Lois?”

“You’re right, I don’t know what that’s like. The most similar thing was having some child come to my mansion, satte that he knew who Dick and I were, and tell me to adopt him and train him as the next Robin or else he’d expose us. I had to let him in with no preparation, give him access to the Batcave, and hope that everything would work out, that he would be good,” Bruce explained. “Ane he was. Being vulnerable and letting people in, it isn’t terrible. It’s terrifying. I’m nearly fifty and I am still learning to do it. But when I have, it’s been good.”

Clark stared longingly out the window, contemplating Bruce’s words. “When your parents put you on that pod, they had no idea what would happen to you. They had no idea how you were going to be raised, how you would grow up, or what would happen to you. They simply had faith that their sacrifice would be worth it, that you would be found by loving people and turn out ok. And the Kents found you, and loved you, and raised you right. And the Kents took an alien baby out of a spaceship and brought it into their home, knowing it could be dangerous, but loving it anyways. Conner came out of that pod, Clark. Is it dangerous? Maybe. But he’s a child that needs love.”

A tear appeared in Clark’s eye as he contemplated the risk his own parents took to raise him right. He was also very dangerous. In the stories Ma and Pa told him, he was displaying strength and powers very early in his infancy and toddlerhood that he didn’t remember. They came off as funny anecdotes, but they were probably terrified, but they didn’t abandon him. They didn’t reject him like he rejected Conner.

“I’m sending Kryptonite weapons to the Titans. If they find Conner, they’ll try to subdue him peacefully. We can keep him here at the tower, and hope he becomes good. It’d be easier to do with your support.”

Bruce left Clark alone and Clark continued to stare at the Earth below, an Earth that currently had his son. An angry and hurt son that was planning his next move to win his love.

Superboy entered the Luthor penthouse where Lex was sipping on a martini. “How did it go?”

“The Kryptonite aura was effective at weakening Superman. The yellow sunlight pills you manufactured have kept me strong and resistant in countering my own weakness against it,” Conner said.

“And then why is Superman not dead?” Lex asked bitterly. “You didn’t go soft on him, have you?”

Conner couldn’t admit to Lex that he let Superman go intentionally. “Wonder Girl has magic-based attacks that are effective against Kryptonians. I am especially susceptible since I am only half. I was very weak after getting electrocuted and outnumbered so I had to flee.”

Lex sighed. “I know I made it resistant against traditional electricity and speedster electricity, but I haven’t had any opportunities to study Themiscyrian powers. You’ll just have to target her first and make sure she’s incapacitated early.” 

“Of course,” Conner replied. 

“It’s ok we didn’t succeed today. This was practice for you and testing for the yellow sunlight pills. Operation Cerrosu is ready to deploy soon. You should get some rest, son,” Luthor said.

“Will do, father,” Conner said as he made his way to his own room. Luthor called him son, he gave him a room, he welcomed him. Luthor had made him, Luthor _wanted_ him and Clark did not. He was angry and furious at Clark, but Lex was right, he was too soft on Clark. There was no reason to show Clark any mercy. And yet, he had a terrible feeling what they were about to do was wrong.


	9. Chapter 9

It was the day after Conner’s attack on the hospital. Batman had sent them all Kryptonite-enhanced weapons. He advised that Conner took certain measures to ensure nobody actually got hurt, and that he was still able to be redeemed. 

Tim desperately wanted that to be true. He wanted there to be good in Conner, and he wanted him to come back from this-back to Tim. 

He entered the living room where the rest of the Teen Titans were. They must have seen the discomfort on his face. They all say how close the two of them were. It wasn’t hard to see that Tim spent no time with them but had spent every moment possible with Conner.

“Hey buddy,” Garfield said, drawing Tim’s attention. “How are you holding up?”

Tim wasn’t sure whether to be truthful or save face. He had no reason to lie, but he didn’t like being vulnerable with them. They were his team, but there was this distance he had put between himself and them. He definitely didn’t want to tell them everything, but they knew there was something.

“It’s really hard,” Tim replied. “I don’t want to hurt him.”

Cassie and Bart looked empathetic towards him. “We can make him see the good, before he hurts Superman or someone else,” Bart stated.

“I just wish he had chosen us from the start,” Tim lamented. He made his way upstairs when his phone chirped. He saw a text from an unknown sender, just what Conner used last time. Again, it requested him to come to the balcony. This one requested him to come alone.

Tim contemplated if he should go solo or not. They needed to catch and subdue him, but what if an ambush against his wishes drives him further from them? 

Tim quickly rushed to get his Robin gear on, texting him that he’ll be there soon. He grabbed his new Kryptonite arsenal and made his way to the elevator. Cassie had turned the corner and saw Tim all decked out.

“Tim?” she asked, confused.

“Give me ten minutes uninterrupted. Come only if I’m not back,” he ordered as the doors closed. 

Cassie looked up towards the ceiling, putting together what was happening. “Shit.”

Tim stepped out on the roof and made his way to Superboy, who was floating just a few inches above the platform. 

“You suited up,” Conner satted.

“You already were,” Tim replied, noting his black supersuit.

“That’s fair,” he replied. 

“What do you want, Conner?” Tim asked.

“I came to say I am sorry,” he replied. “I know it looked bad, but I put the bomb in an abandoned wing and the others were meant to be found.”

“We know,” Tim replied. “That doesn’t make it okay.”

Conner looked upset. “I understand. Do you hate me?”

Tim should, or at least be angry. He should consider Conner to be an enemy just like Joker, Bane, or Alice; but he couldn’t. He couldn’t hate Conner at all. Part of him still loved him. “I don’t hate you, Conner. But I want you to come home. Stay with me.”

Conner wanted to, he wanted to so bad. Maybe he could cut his losses and be punished, but then he’d have no Lex _and_ no Clark, and maybe not even a guarantee of Tim. He was going to tell Tim that he was Superman’s only hope of protecting him from Luthor, but then he heard the elevator’s engine approaching. He used his X-ray vision and saw all of the Teen Titans rising, armed with weapons.

Tim had turned against him. He’d never love him anymore, not the way he loved Tim. “You don’t care about me!” he exclaimed. “You’re here to distract me so they could get me!”

Tim turned around at the elevator. They must be on the way. He turned back to his friend. “Conner, that’s not-”

Conner had flown high speed into his chest and had wrapped an arm around him to lift him up into the sky. Tim watched as the rooftop’s garden shrunk further and further away.

“Conner!” Tim exclaimed as he was flown up into the sky. “What do you plan on doing to me?”

“I don’t know yet!” he yelled angrily. 

Tim began to panic. He couldn’t fight Conner in the air, and he didn’t have a safe way down. 

“Zeus, Hera, someone, anyone, give Cassie a sign,” he pleaded as he took out a Kryptonite dart and jammed it into Conner’s arm. Conner yelled and dropped Tim, having him fall through the sky.

Cassie, Bart, and Garfield arrived on the roof and looked around. “They’re not here,” Bart said after a fast sweep.

“They had to have flown,” Cassie said, looking up. A gentle breeze coasted through the air, and Cassie closed her eyes as she felt the wind. She opened her eyes and took off to the sky, knowing she had to catch Tim. She could see him in the distance. She could make it. 

Cassie felt a cold rush run through her blood and she suddenly felt panic. “This is not how these events will unfold,” she heard Ares’s voice boon through her. He occasionally intervened when he felt certain exploits were not a part of his plans or his visions for her. Her magic sandals stopped glowing and she felt herself begin to fall. She screamed as she fell through the sky. 

“Beast Boy!” she screamed. 

“Tim!” Conner screamed as soon as he broke the dart out of him. He sped down towards the ground, hoping to catch him in time. Beast Boy ran towards the edge of the balcony and morphed into a large eagle and sped towards Cassie. Her boots began to glow again and her balance was regaining enough to brace her fall. She hit the ground fairly hard still, and Beast Boy landed besides her.

“I’m sorry I was too slow,” Beast Boy tried to apologize.

“It doesn’t matter-” she nervously said, cutting him off, looking at the sky. “Where’s Tim?”

They eventually saw the two bodies descending down. Conner grabbed Tim’s hand and rolled over to his back, holding Tim fetal like and wrapping his cape around him. “Hold on, Tim!”

They hit the ground and the force of them had their plummet continuing through the Earth. Conner groaned in pain as he felt every rock hit and shatter upon his back, but he didn’t falter his position so he could continue to protect Tim. 

They eventually slowed to a stop. Conner was breathing heavily and he looked up. The rubble had collapsed in on itself and they were trapped in a small hollowed space beneath the Earth with no way of getting out.


	10. Chapter 10

“Tim, are you okay?” Conner asked. He x-rayed Time, and couldn’t see anything broken, but he wasn’t at an ideal angle. Tim sat up off of his chest and felt around, putting together the situation. 

“I’m sore, but nothing’s broken. I didn’t hit my head on anything,” Tim said.

“Be very careful,” Conner said, looking upwards with his x-ray vision. “If we try anything reckless, that could collapse on us.” 

“How deep underground are we?” Tim asked, illuminating their small space with a flashlight on his wrist device. 

“One fifty to two-hundred feet down,” Conner said.

“Can you fly us out?” Tim asked, panting from his aches.

Conner shook his head. “Not with those,” he pointed to the Kryptonite arsenal right around Tim’s belt.

“Damn it. I’m sorry, Conner,” Tim replied.

Conner began to laugh. “I attack you, fly you up in the sky, pummel you several meters into the ground and you’re apologizing to me? This is all _my_ fault.”

“You did act rather rash,” Tim stated. “For the record, I didn’t ask the Titans to follow me. Cassie caught me on the way up. I told her to come only if I wasn’t back in ten minutes. We definitely didn’t get ten.”

“I’m sorry I’m so fucked up,” Conner said. “I get father issues from Lex Luthor and a hatred for Superman from him too. It’s in my DNA.”

“DNA isn’t everything. It’s what you choose to do with it,” Tim explained. 

Conner sighed deeply. “I just wanted to feel like a person, and not a clone. I wanted to feel normal.”

Robin looked at his device and triggered the panic button Bruce had installed in it for emergencies. “We’re going to get out of this Conner, and then I need you to turn yourself in.”

Conner nodded. “I will.”

Clark’s cell phone rang while he was at The Daily Planet. He noticed it was Bruce calling, and he was using the emergency line. 

“What’s going on, Bruce?” Clark asked as he answered the phone.

“Superboy and Red Robin are two-hundred feet below the Earth’s surface in San Francisco. I’m texting you an address in Colorado. I need you to meet me there.” Bruce said.

“Colorado?” Clark asked. “What’s in Colorado?”

“You’ll see when you get there,” Bruce said as he hung up the phone.

Clark quickly shut off his stuff and made his way to the alley where he could take off unseen. He flew through the skies and he landed on a clifftop in Colorado where Bruce instructed. He was afraid they were wasting time being here. If Conner and Tim were trapped underground, they only had some much oxygen.

Bruce’s batwing appeared in the sky a few minutes later and descended down . Bruce stepped out once it was fully landed. He wasn’t in his batsuit, but just as Bruce Wayne. “Hello, Clark. I need you to follow my lead on this one. We’re coming in peace.”

“In peace?” Clark asked. “Who are we seeing?”

“The only metahuman who can get Conner and Tim out of that hole safely,” Bruce said. “Fly me to that house down there.” He pointed to a small house overlooking a field full of flowers.

Clark did as instructed and now they were only a few feet away from the front door. Bruce took out a white handkerchief in the air and waved it as he approached and rang the doorbell. Clark cautiously stepped towards the front as well.

The door slowly opened and a young woman with long, pale white hair opened the door. “So, you found me,” the woman said in a heavy European accent.

“Tara Markov?” Clark asked. “You’re alive?”

“Found implies you were ever lost, Tara,” Bruce said. “I’m here for a favor.”

“Why would you trust me for a favor?” Tara asked. She had worked for Deathstroke back in the prime days of the original Titans. She was a spy for him. He was helping her get revenge on her family who cast her aside, and she was helping him get revenge for his son Jericho, another founding Titan that had died on a mission.

When Deathstroke betrayed her, she collapsed an entire building down on her and him. All of the other Titans believed her to be dead, but Bruce knew.

“I have been keeping tabs on you for years,” Bruce said. “I am on the only one in the Justice League who knows you’re alive aside from Superman now, but I’ll make sure it stays between us. We’ll try not to run into anyone else.”

“What is it you need me to do?” she asked.

“Our sons are trapped underground, and they’re running out of air. They’re two hundred feet below the surface. If Superman used his strength-”

“The ground would shift and collapsed on them” she said.

“I can try to get you whatever you’d like in return,” Bruce offered. “If you recall, I lost Jason to the Joker. I can’t lose another. Please, Tara.”

“I just want to live out the rest of my life in isolation out here to atone for what I’ve done. We should hurry,” Tara said.

“Superman, you’ll have to fly her, it’ll be the fastest way. The batwing isn’t as fast as you. It happened right outside Titans Tower. I texted you the coordinates,” Bruce said.

Clark nodded. “You ready to fly, Tara?”

Tara stepped outside and locked her front door before turning to Superman. “Ready when you are.”

She put her arm around him and he hoisted her legs up before taking off towards San Francisco. 

“So, you’ve just been on your own?” Superman asked.

“Yup,” she said as they flew. “Who’s still around Titans Tower that I would have known?” Tara asked.

“Just Dick Grayson and Koriand’r,” Superman replied.

“I owe them an apology,” she said softly.

“Do you regret it?” Superman asked.

Tara smiled. “Every single day. I planted a tree for Donna.” Her face turned into one of genuine remorse and sadness. “God, I think about her everyday”

“Why are you helping us? Why didn’t you run or flee?” Superman asked.

“I’m not going to have anybody else die because of me,” Tara said. “If I can save two lives, maybe, it can partially make up for the one I helped to lose.”

Superman didn’t reply as they made their way down to the crash site. There were reporters and the Titans. Tara quickly shielded her face and had some rocks lift from the ground to form an eye mask for herself.

“Terra?” Kory asked, surprised at seeing her former friend. “You’re alive?”

“I have a lot to apologize for, later,” she said. “Right now we need to save these boys. Are you coming, Clark?”

Tim was laying on Conner’s chest. Conner had an arm wrapped around Tim’s back and his free hand was stroking his hair. His breathing was getting heavier and more strained. Conner didn’t need oxygen as much since he was half Kryptonian. 

“I’m so sorry, Tim,” Conner said softly. “If I could do everything differently, I would. If I had known my actions were going to hurt you like this, I never would have done it. But I suppose I should have known that from the start. All I wanted was to be Superman’s son and your boyfriend, so that I could hold you like this whenever I wanted.”

Tim didn’t respond, and Conner began to cry. He heard the Earth rumble and felt it shake. This was it, the cavern was going to collapse and crush them. But light emerged from behind Tim, a large opening emerged and there were two people standing; a blonde woman he didn’t recognize, and _Superman_.

Superman rushed over to the boys. “I’m here for you, Conner.” He said it with a relieved smile, and he felt his eyes water. He picked up Tim carefully and gestured with his head for Conner to follow. He got up and stood on the platform of perfectly smooth rock the girl was on.

“You must be Superman’s son,” the woman said. “I’m Terra.”

“I’m not-” he said sheepishly.

“My son’s name is Superboy,” Clark said with a smile. Conner collapsed on the platform, hsi legs too weak from both the emotion and the pain of colliding through the ground. Terra’s rock moved upwards at high speeds until they were at the surface. Superboy breathed in the fresh air and took in the yellow sunlight. 

“Set him down carefully,” Terra stated. Superman gently laid Red Robin down, on goers watching the scene. Conner wanted to throw up, Tim looked dead. He was dead and it was all his fault. “He’s inhaled a lot of dirt and dust.” She gently turned his head straight up and partially opened his mouth. She hovered her hand over his head, and patiently waited. A bunch of dust and mud levitated out of his mouth, his body writhed as he choked and coughed it all up. 

She threw the mud to the side and looked at him again. “He needs a little more air.”

“I got it,” Conner said. He wrapped one hand under Tim’s head and used to other to lift his chin for a clear pathway. He put his mouth on his and used his super breath to blow a good amount of fresh air into Tim.

Conner leaned back and he heard Tim gasp and sit up, coughing some more, but his eyes were opened.

“Robin!” Superboy exclaimed with tears in his eyes. He hugged Robin tightly and sobbed into his shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Robin. I’m so so sorry for everything I’ve done.”

He stood up and looked emotionally at Terra. “Thank you so much for saving him,” he said.

“I saved you too, buckaroo,” she said with a cocky smile.

Conner grinned, but it was a weak one. “I wasn’t worth saving.” He turned to Clark, who was looking mournful at his answer. “I’m ready to turn myself in to the Justice League.”

Clark nodded remorsefully. It was the right thing to do for the time being. Clark stepped closer to Superboy before they heard a commotion coming from the crowd. The talking got louder until some citizens were screaming in fear.

They looked up and thousands of drones were flying overhead in the sky, dispersing evenly and forming a pattern.

“This was Lex Luthor’s plan. This is what I wanted to help you stop,” Conner said nervously.

“What is it?” Clark asked.

“He called it Operation Cerrosu,” Clark said. 

“That is Romanian for ‘Red Sky’,” Terra said.

They watched as the drones got higher and higher in the skies until they were out of view, but then the color red trickled through the sky like watercolor paint, slowly diluting and stretching until the colors deepened and blue blue sky became less and less.

Clark closed his eyes and focused on something, but then his face turned to anger. “I don’t have my powers under red sunlight.”

“That means Lex Luthor is ready to strike,” Superboy warned.


	11. Chapter 11

The citizens of the city screamed in fear as they looked up the blood red skies. “Reports of the red sky are worldwide,” Dick said, holding up a tablet.

“How did he pull this off, Conner? Tell us how to counter it,” Superman said.

“The drones deployed a special type of mist. The blue sky is only like that because of water vapor. The mist deployed refracts the yellow sunlight differently to have the properties of red sunlight since there are very few differences between yellow and red suns,” Conner explained.

“And what do we do about it?” Superman asked.

“The first option would be to hide until they ran out of mist, which is anywhere from four to eight hours, but I am assuming Lex has heard about my accident,” Conner said.

“What’s option two?” Superman asked.

Conner smiled and reached into his pocket and took out a yellow sunlight pill. “Luthor engineered a yellow sunlight pill to give me full Kryptonian powers I otherwise wouldn’t have. I could have taken it to get Red Robin and I out of that cave, but it’s my last one, and I knew you’d need it for this.”

Superman took the pill into his hands and looked at it carefully.

“The effects are temporary, so you’ll have to take it as soon as Luthor makes his appearance, and you’ll have to get him fast,” Conner explained.

“You won’t be alone,” Kory said. “You’ll have the support of the Titans behind you. Luthor can’t take all of us.”

“I’d like to help too,” Terra said. “If you’ll have me. I understand you may be hesitant to trust me further, but I am not done making amends to you all.”

Superman looked at Dick and Kory for their approval. “We’re all about second chances here, aren’t we Nightwing?”

“Yes, we are,” Nightwing agreed. “We’re glad that you came back, Terra.”

Terra smiled at them both until they were interrupted by the whirling winds caused by the Batwing’s landing. Batman hopped out of the jet and rushed over to Tim.

“Red Robin, are you ok?” he asked.

Tim smirked. “Yes I am, thank you for getting Superman and Terra to us in time.”

“I’m glad you were able to get to your panic button,” Batman replied. He turned to Clark. “My radar detected a lot of unregistered tech headed our way!”

A very large tank of a glowing green suit landed in front of the superheroes along with dozens of other mechanical assailants. Through the glass dome of the largest robot, they saw Lex Luthor operating the machine.

“Hello, Superman,” Lex stated. “The time has come for your reign of terror to end.”

“I don’t think so, Lex,” Superman replied.

“You are powerless,” Lex threatened. 

“Maybe not quite,” he replied. He quickly put the yellow sunlight pill in his mouth and felt the power of a hundred yellow suns course through his body, emitting a golden aura.

“What have you done, Conner?” Lex asked angrily. “I thought you wanted Superman dead.” 

“I thought I did too,” Superboy replied. “Wanting to do good for the world, I get that from both of you. But doing it the right way? I listened to the wrong dad for that one.”

“Then you can die with him. Fourteenth time’s the charm,” he threatened. His mecha suit held up its hand and the large exhaust hole in the palm began to glow and charge. Superman blew his first breath to counter-cool and Terra did a high kick, causing a wall of rock to strike Lex’s arm from the ground, aiming it up. He launched a blast at the sky instead.

The firepower eventually hit multiple drones in the atmosphere and fried them, causing them to fall. The remaining drones repositioned to make up for the gap. 

Lex’s sidekick androids began to charge at the Titans. Superboy felt himself be carried and then he was suddenly on a rooftop. He turned to see a man in bright red leather.

“Nice to meet you, Superboy,” the Flash said. “Just wait up here until your powers are back.”

Lightning cracked in the sky and a woman descended onto the rooftop rapidly, but landed gracefully without crushing the ceiling underneath them. 

“This is the son of Superman? I am Diana,” Wonder Woman greeted. “Barry, we must hurry.”

“We’ll be back!” Barry vanished off the rooftop in the blink of an eye and Diana sped off the rooftop and took a drastic leap off the edge.

Cassie was in hand to hand combat with one of the androids while Kid Flash was trying to grab them at high speeds and hurl them into the ground. Beast Boy was in the form of a large gorilla and was jumping from android to android, smashing with his fists. Red Robin and Nightwing were smashing Androids with their electric-charged staffs.

“You know, little bro, I love teaming up with you,” Grayson complemented.

“Me too, it’s always helpful to learn from watching your mistakes,” Tim teased. 

Grayson laughed heartily as he batted the head off one of the androids. “I don’t make any.”

Kory flew above them and launched her fireballs at many of the droids. More and more arrived to the field, late deployments, replacing what had been destroyed.

“Who has eyes on Superman?” Kory asked.

“He’s in the sky!” Tim replied. Superman had taken off and Lex’s flying mecha suit was right on his tail. He turned behind him and shot his lasers from his eyes into the suit, but it was impenetrable.

“You’re an idiot, Clark! You think I didn’t reinforce this mecha to be resistant to your own powers?”

“Oracle, can you do anything about the drones?” Dick asked over comms.

“I’m trying, but Luthor’s systems are very advanced. Lucius’s systems are good, but not _that_ good,” she replied over the phone.

“We don’t know how long that yellow sunlight pill is going to keep Superman protected,” Dick replied.

“Batsy, I could use some backup,” Clark stated.

“If you call me ‘Batsy’ again, I’ll let Luthor kill you,” Bruce replied from the Batwing. He was flying after Luthor and locked on his target. He shot a barrage of bullets into the Lexosuit, but they had little effect.

“Got anything else?” Clark asked as he flew around, evading Luthor’s blasts from his mecha.

Lightning cracked in the sky and Wonder Woman swung from her lasso, magically attached to Zeus’s lightning in the sky and launched herself to land on Luthor’s machine, knocking him into the bay below. 

“Drones deactivated!” Oracle exclaimed to Dick on the comms. The drones began to slowly descend from the sky and stop producing the mist. Blue light was slowly breaking its way through the red again and Clark felt even more charged than usual with his regular strength enhanced by the yellow sunlight pill.

He blew his frost breath at the spot where Luthor sunk and the water below began to freeze slowly. The batwing projected a hook through the water and then raised itself while retracting the cable to haul a frozen Lexosuit out of the water.

“It’ll thaw in a few moments, it needs to be disabled entirely,” Wonder Woman said. 

The Titans approached, including Superboy, who had been sped over by The Flash. “Lex Luthor said he didn’t understand Themiscyrian magic. Lightning from you or Wonder Girl should finish the job.”

Wonder Woman and Cassie grinned at each other, each taking a lasso in hand. “Stand back,” she instructed.

The Lexosuit began to whirl its engines back up, and the ice began to steam from rapid melting. They whipped their lassos, each wrapping around the main torso of the mechanical body. 

“Three….two...one,” Wonder Woman counted down. Both of their lassos began to glow and emit a fury of electricity into the suit. Sparks flew as the machine short circuited and popped with mechanical failure. They eased up when it began to smoke and they stopped their lightning charges. Wonder Woman rewhipped her lasso to pull the protective dome off where Luthor was unconscious. Superman reached in and pulled him out while Batman stepped up with handcuffs.

“Thank you, everybody, for coming in time of need,” Superman said. “And thank you, Conner, for risking your own life and Tim’s. If you didn’t save that pill, Luthor would have been able to kill me. I’m here because of you, son.”

Connor bashfully smiled, uncomfortable with the praise. It felt good to receive Superman’s recognition and praise, and the claps and cheers from everyone else but deep down, he knew he didn’t deserve it.

But he looked over at Tim, who was smiling at him proudly, just as he used to before he had gone rogue-the smile he never thought he would ever be able to see again, and he felt that everything was going to be okay.


	12. Epilogue

“Good Afternoon, Metropolis. I am Cat Grant here to give you some breaking news,” the blonde reporter announced on her television broadcast. “The red skies seen around the world was a terrorist attack orchestrated by none other than entrepreneur, philanthropist, and tech mogul Alexander Luthor, CEO of LuthorCorp.

“Justice League Representative and Metropolis Icon Superman has stated that the red skies weakened his Kyrtonian powers and Lex Luthor was attempting to murder him. The Justice League has claimed Lex Luthor was a mastermind behind multiple attacks against members, but they have never had enough concrete evidence to have him persecuted.

The Justice League stated this is why Lex Luthor has been such a heavy advocate for legislation restricting the Justice League’s authorization and rights to intervene in critical attacks and other terror events worldwide. 

Superman also gave a name to the man in black who attacked the Metropolis Children’s Hospital a few days ago. ‘Superboy’ was under the corrupt influence of Lex Luthor via a type of brainwashing sustenance. Superman states that once the sustenance wore off, he was apologetic and cooperative with the Justice League. The Justice League is seeking to have him serve a house-arrest sentence off Earth in their Justice League Watchtower as opposed to a meta-human prison such as Iron Heights for observation and rehabilitation due to the circumstances. ‘Superboy’ is currently there temporarily, but the Justice League will cooperate in relocating him if a federal judge denies the request for Watchtower house-arrest.”

Superboy turned to Clark and chuckled. “Under the influence of a brainwashing sustenance?”

Clark shrugged and smiled. “What the people won’t know won’t hurt them. I’d like to see you introduced back to the public someday, and it’ll be up to the opinion of the public. A little positive PR spin is better than the blatant lies Luthor has told the public.”

Conner looked at the Kryptonite ankle monitor on his leg. He would have some access to the Watchtower, but it also made sure he wasn’t allowed in some restricted areas, naturally. The Justice League would let him have TV and Internet, and there was always at least one Justice League member in the Watchtower at all times even prior to Conner’s house arrest.

The official rule was that no non-Justice League members were allowed, but when Batman or Superman were on-duty alone, they let Tim boom tube into the Watchtower to visit Conner.

It was late on a quiet night on Batman’s shift when Tim came to visit. He knocked on Conner’s bedroom door and it opened.

“Tim,” Conner said softly.

“Conner,” he replied. They were both navigating this thing between the two of them. It was new and unnatural for Tim and Conner had little to no life experience regarding socialization at all, let alone romance. 

“It’s good to see you,” Conner said in his low, smooth voice.

“Are you going to let me in?” Tim suggested.

“Maybe I have other boys in here,” Conner teased.

Red Robin’s eyebrows raised from the instigation. “You better not. That means the Watchtower has a big security breach, and I’m one of the few people keeping you from Iron Heights.”

Conner smiled giddily and moved the door all the way open. He picked Tim up and spun him in his arms before dropping him on the bed and crawling on top of him suggestively.

“You’re the only man for me,” Conner replied before leaning down and kissing him. He let go and looked admiringly into Tim’s eyes.

“I love you, Conner,” Tim said. It was the first time he had said it outloud to Conner. It had been a short time, but Tim knew.

Conner beamed with happiness at the confession and stroked his cheek. “I love you too. It’s ‘cuz I’m a bad boy isn’t it?” He winked and Tim laughed.

“No, you idiot. It’s too soon for jokes like that!”

They kissed once more and Conner rolled off of him, opting to hold him and stroke his hands through his hair. 

“Is it?” Conner asked.

“You’re literally at the beginning of your house arrest sentence. Yes.”

“I get my humor skills from Garfield,” Conner said.

“And it shows, they’re awful,” Tim replied.

Conner knew it was lighthearted, and so was his comment. He continued to look at the man in his arms, he still couldn’t believe it was true. He was real, tangible, and his. Despite all that he’d done, Tim and the Justice League knew he could be better, be good, and he was thankful for that second chance.


End file.
